( 4 ) 
they would probably have grown ; but unfortunately the beft 
fpecimens were placed between papers, fo that notwithflanding 
the germen of the feeds looked very fair in the microfcope, yet 
owing to their long continuance between the damp papers in fo 
tedious a voyage, none of them, to our great mortification, have 
vegetated,;- nay, even thofe that were preferved in wax did not 
grow, for the feeds are too thin and chaffy to keep any time, 
unlefs preferved within their capfules in- fmail fnuff-boxea, or 
perhaps in vials. 
Another obfervation occurs to me with regard to feeds pre- 
ferved in'wax, which is-, that if they are not Town immediately 
upon being taken out of the wax, they will certainly perifh ; 
and that is one of the reafons why fo many feeds of the Tea 
tree that have been inclofed in wax have mifcarried ; for when 
they arrive, the perfons who receive them take them - out of the 
wax to be diftributed among their many friends. To that they 
feldom are fown till fome time after,, when' the germen,' which 
foon, withers, has already lofl' all its vegetating powers ; hence 
our hopes are dlfappointed, and. this methodidifapproved. 
There is another inftance within my own knowledge, of Teeds 
not growing that were preferved in wax: this defe-<ft IToUnd was 
owing to their being kept for fome' day^ expofed to the air after 
they were taken out of the wax before they were put into the 
ground; and happened in the following manner. 
When the chip-box full of acorns, of the growth of the 
year 1766, preferved through the feafon in wax-, was opened: 
before the Royal Society, December the 5th,’ 1767; in order to 
examine whether they were found, the Prefident, Lord Mor-^ 
ton, put fome of them in his pocket to try the experiment 
himfelf, whether they would' vegetate .'after fo long ^onThe-- 
.ment from the. air, as from February to December; a<!^after he 
L/ 
0 
had- 
