50
THE ESSEX NATURALIST.
nor is it possible to understand why the seed of the Yellow Flag
floats until the testa has been halved and the air space noted.
Such dissections as these ought to be included, they do not expose
either embryo or endosperm and they are as unobjectionable as
they are desirable.
Before I explain the method which I have adopted for curating
seeds I must once more draw attention to the desirability of
drying the specimens before putting them away. A good many
seeds in our own flora are provided with a fleshy caruncle or aril,
and while in some cases it is so small as to be easily overlooked,
in others it is large and conspicuous ; it is, however, invariably
a source of danger to the curator who ignores it. I am sorry to
have to add that in my own experience it is always a nuisance,
for sooner or later, but fortunately often after a long time, it
either gets attacked or crumbles and makes a mess even when
proper precautions have been taken ; it is, nevertheless, wise
to postpone the evil day by drying and poisoning, and so far as
I know it is not possible to do more.
I remarked just now that a very little material in the shape of
seeds is quite enough. I might almost say that two or three, or
even a single one, would suffice in the ordinary way with which to
demonstrate, so far as a collection can, the local dispersal of
the species. The thing to aim at is not quantity, but quality,
and no seed should ever be admitted that was not so ripe when
harvested that it fell from the parent of its own accord ; no
force should ever be used to effect removal. This section
of the collection deals with the subsequent history and not with
the first-instance dispersal, and so its constituents should be
confined strictly to those seeds which have already experienced
the latter in the normal way. There are several reasons why
large numbers should be avoided, and a very good one is that a
box full of seeds is much more likely to breed trouble than half a
dozen specimens only in the same box. This is especially true
of caruncled seeds and those with an oily testa and while there is,
as a rule, little to be gained by large numbers, a good deal may be
lost with such things as, for example, Orchids and the Ivy-leafed
Toadflax. The former are often infested with mites, and the
latter with minute grubs, from eggs which appear to be laid
after the capsule has dehisced but before the escape of the seeds.