112 
FLOEA OF THE AVON-BED. 
in it. He vouched for the correctness of the statement that the 
seeds which had thus been swallowed and buried had germinated 
after the lapse of centuries.'’' A still more remarkable case- is 
the discovery of seeds twenty-five feet below the surface of the 
earth, in the lowest layers of a sand-pit in process of excavation 
in the Tweed valley. Upon being sown about a tenth germinated 
and produced plants of Pol3"gonum, Rumex, and Atriplex.-j- It 
was concluded upon various considerations that those seeds w^ere 
deposited at a period when the valley was occupied by a lake ; 
and if this be the case they must have retained their vitality 
during many centuries at least, as it is certain that in the time 
of the Romans no lake existed there. Again, one of the most 
extraordinaiy appearances of strange plants ever noticed w^as 
recorded at Shipston-on-Stour, Worcestershire.:!: Shipston is 
situated upon the lias, a geological formation generally considered 
to have been deposited in a shallow sea, and abounding with 
shells. A well having been sunk in this, the next year a 
quantity of Glauciiiin luteum appeared upon the rubbish thrown 
out from the shaft. No Glaucium had previously grown any- 
w'here in the neighbourhood, and it seems impossible to conceive 
that the seeds could have got there from the yremit sea- shore. 
They had possibly remained inert from the time when the 
deposition of the lias took place, and upon their exposure to the 
atmosphere were recalled to life. Of course the sea-poppy did 
not continue to flourish in such an inland position. 
In October, 1844, Mr. George Fitt published in the 
Phijtologist some facts which strongly support this contention. 
He observed that Chenopodium hotryoides sprung up in the 
greatest profusion and beauty where mud had been thrown out 
of ditches. He accounted for its sudden appearance by sup* 
* PJiytoL, vol. iv., 776. 
f Annals and Magazine Nat. Hist. 
I PhytoL, vol. iv., 132. 
