9 
suspension of the muscular motions of the vibrio tritici. 
only a very small quantity of water can be applied, which 
very soon evaporates, almost every individual worm recovered 
in less than a quarter of an hour ; and if the water is a second 
time suffered soon to evaporate, the experiment may be re- 
peated many times successfully with the same worms ; but 
after the second or third repetition, if there is a suspension 
of a week or ten days at each interval, several worms do 
not revive, and the number of these increases at every suc- 
ceeding repetition. If this experiment be not repeated too 
soon or too frequently, the worms retain their reviviscent 
quality much longer ; the longest period of recovery, after a 
second suspension, I have hitherto ascertained, was eight 
months. 
If the worms are kept alive in water for a week or ten 
days, the experiment cannot be repeated so often, but the 
intervals of suspension may be prolonged considerably. I 
made the experiment very recently with grains which were 
three years and ten days old, and dry. After extracting the 
worms from the grains, I kept them in water thirty-five days, 
and after they had again been fifteen days perfectly dry, I 
supplied them with water, and in less than twelve hours 
soaking they were again, almost every individual, in as lively 
motion as if they had just been taken from fresh grains of 
the growing plant. I had the pleasure of showing these 
worms, in that state, to several Members of the Society, on 
the 29th of September last ; after that day, I preserved the 
same specimens eighteen days, perfectly dry ; when, supplying 
them with water, I found, in less than three hours, at least 
one-third of them in lively motion ; but the next morning, 
MDCCCXXIII. C 
