tion in the duration of this faculty has not escaped the notice of botanists; but they have not yet elucidated, by experiments repeated upon all the families and upon a great number of genera, this phanomenon in vegetation, nor determined month after month, and year by year, the species of seeds which successively lose their germinative faculty, as well as those which preserve it for a long time. It was with this view that I attempted a tedious experiment, of which the following is the result :

Forty-five years ago Bernard de Jussieu made a collection of the seeds of all the families, and of a great number of the genera. This collection still exists with M. Antony Laurence de Jussieu, who kindly permitted me to take what I pleased. The seeds are all enclosed in small boxes, and wrapped in a paper upon which Bernard de Jussieu has written their names. I mention these circumstances, to show how old they were, and because it is necessary to know how these seeds have been preserved, because by taking particular care they might be preserved still longer from the contact of the air.

At the beginning of May, 1809, I sowed on a common bed 350 species of seeds, of all families and of a great number of genera. I shall not minutely enter into the particulars required for this experiment, which lasted eighteen months, but shall give the results of my observations.

The following, in the first place, are the names of the seeds which

came up.

Cannacorus.

Asphodelus albus.

Ceba viticis folio, caudice aculeato. Bombax 1.

Phaseolus semine tamarindi.
Anagyris fetida.

Galega frutescens, flore purpu-
reo, foliis sericeis.
Ptelea trifoliata.
Paliurus aculeatus.
Ceanothus Americanus.

Making in all ten species. As the second year since the sowing has not passed, it is possible that some of the seeds will still come up during the second or third year. Among these ten species, we ought to remark the two cannæ and the asphodeli, the seeds of which are furnished with a large perisperma, which does not seem to have injured their preservation for we generally observe that the seeds furnished with a perisperma, like those of the umbelliferous plants, the rubiaceae, &c. speedily lose their germinative faculty.

In making this experiment, I observed that in many seeds the embryo was preserved in a good state, that it swelled like that of new seeds at the moment of germination, when the humidity and heat are first developed; but that it perished some time afterwards, because the cotyledons being obliterated could not transmit to it the juices necessary to its developement.

In order to establish a point of comparison between these old seeds and fresh ones, I sowed upon the same bed about 300 species of seeds gathered the preceding year for the Museum of Natural History, and chosen as much as possible from among the same genera as the

to come up, I made a note of it in my register. I observed that the old seeds, which ought to have germinated within the year, took less time to do so than the new ones; and that two old species, the paliurus and the ceanothus, which germinate only during the second and third years in the sowings annually made at the Museum, rose at the end of a few days. Does not this prove, that many perennials, like the paliurus, ceanothus, &c. do not come up until the second or third year, because the embryo has not yet attained its necessary degree of maturity? or that the juices contained in the cotyledons are not sufficiently elaborated-rather than admit, as has been done generally, that the envelopes of the seeds are too hard, and cannot be pierced by the embryo until two or three years expire? This opinion appears to me so much the more erroneous, as, in most fruits or seeds the valves or envelope open naturally, and without any effort: it can only be admitted in a very small number of circumstances; and I shall add in favour of mine, a fact which was related to me by M. Thouin the elder, the accuracy of which is well known, namely, that gardeners always prefer for melon beds, such seeds as have been two or three years gathered, to those of the preceding year.

THE CHAMELION.

From Forbes's Oriental Memoirs.

The greatest curiosity is the chamelion (lacerta chamælion, Lin.) found in every thicket. I kept one

for several weeks, of which, as it differed in many respects from those described in Arabia, and other places, I shall mention a few particulars. The chamelion of the Concan, including the tail, is about nine inches long; the body only half that length, varying in circumference, as it is more or less inflated; the head, like that of a fish, is immoveably fixed to the shoulders, but every inconvenience is removed, by the structure of the eyes, which, like spheres rolling on an invisible axis, are placed in deep cavities, projecting from the head: through a small perforation in the exterior convexity, appears a bright pupil, surrounded by a yellow iris, which, by the singular formation and motion of the eye, enables the animal to see what passes before, behind, or on either side; and it can give one eye all these motions, while the other remains perfectly still: a hard rising protects these delicate organs; another extends from the forehead to the nostrils: the mouth is large, and furnished with teeth, with a tongue half the length of the body, and

hollow like an elephant's trunk; it darts nimbly at flies and other insects, which it seems to prefer to the aerial food generally supposed to be its sustenance. The legs are longer than usual in the lacerta genus; on the forefeet are three toes nearest the body, and two without; the hinder exactly the reverse; with these claws it clings fast to the branches, to which it sometimes entwines itself by the tail, and remains suspended: the skin is granulated like shagreen, except a range of hard excrescences, or denticulations, on the ridge of the back, which are al

ways of the same colour as the body; whereas a row of similar projections beneath, continue perfectly white, notwithstanding any metamorphosis of the animal.

The general colour of the chamelion so long in my possession, was a pleasant green, spotted with pale blue: from this it changed to a bright yellow, dark olive, and a dull green but never appeared to such advantage as when irritated, or a dog approached it: the body was then considerably inflated, and the skin clouded like tortoise-shell, in shades of yellow, orange, green, and black. A black object always caused an almost instantaneous transformation; the room appropriated for its accommodation was skirted by a board painted black, this the chamelion carefully avoided; but if he accidentally drew near it, or we placed a black hat in his way, he was reduced to a hideous skeleton, and from the most lively tints became black as jet; on removing the cause, the effect as suddenly ceased; the sable hue was succeeded by a brilliant colouring, and the body was again inflated.

ALLIGATORS.

From the same.

The eastern districts of Travencore, intersected by lakes and rivers, abound with amphibious animals, especially alligators and seals. There seems to be no essential difference between the alligator of India, and the Egyptian crocodile; lacerta alligator, and lacertus crocodilus. Naturalists seem to confine the alligator to South America,

the crocodile to Asia and Africa; but in India the lacerta crocodilus, generally called the alligator, is from five to twenty feet long, shaped like the genus to which he belongs: the back is covered with impenetrable scales; the legs short, with five spreading toes on the fore-feet, and four in a straight line on the hinder, armed with claws: the alligator moves slowly, its whole formation being calculated for strength, the back-bone firmly jointed, and the tail a most formidable weapon: in the river he eagerly springs on the wretch unfortunately bathing within his reach, and either knocks him down with his tail or opens a wide mouth for his destruction, armed with numerous sharp teeth of various length; by which, like the shark, he sometimes severs the human body at a single bite: the annals of the Nile and Ganges, although wonderful, are not fabulous. The upper jaw only of the alligator was thought to be moveable; that is now completely disproved: the eyes are of a dull green, with a brilliant pupil, covered by a transparent pellicle, moveable as in birds; from the heads of those of large size, musk is frequently extracted.

ELEPHANTS. From the same.

The largest elephants are from ten to eleven feet in height, some are said to exceed it; the average is eight or nine feet. They are fifty or sixty years before they arrive at their full growth; the female goes with young eighteen months, and seldom produces more than one at a birth, which she suckles until it is five years old;

its natural life is about one hundred and twenty years. The Indians are remarkably fond of these animals, especially when they have been long in their service. I have seen an elephant valued at twenty thousand rupees: the common price of a docile well-trained elephant is five or six thousand; and in the countries where they are indigenous, the Company contract for them at five hundred rupees each, when they must be seven feet high at the shoulders. The mode of catching and training the wild elephants is now well known; their price increases with their merit during a course of education. Some, for their extraordinary qualities, become in a manner invaluable; when these are purchased, no compensation induces a wealthy owner to part with them.

The skin of the elephant is generally a dark grey, sometimes almost black; the face frequently painted with a variety of colours; and the abundance and splendor of his trappings add much to his consequence. The Mogul princes allowed five men and a boy to take care of each elephant; the chief of them, called the mahawut, rode upon his neck to guide him; another sat upon the rump,and assisted in battle; the rest supplied him with food and water, and performed the necessary services. Elephants bred to war, and well-disciplined, will stand firm against a volley of musquetry, and never give way unless severely wounded. I have seen one of those animals, with upwards of thirty bullets in the fleshy parts of his body, perfectly recovered from his wounds. All are not equally docile, and when an enraged elephant retreats from battle,

nothing can withstand his fury: the driver having no longer a command, friends and foes are involved in undistinguished ruin.

The elephants in the army of Antiochus were provoked to fight by shewing them the blood of grapes and mulberries. The history of the Maccabees informs us that "to every elephant they ap pointed a thousand men, armed with coats of mail, and five hundred horsemen of the best; these were ready at every occasion; wherever the beast was, and whithersoever he went, they went also; and upon the elephant were strong towers of wood, filled with armed men, besides the Indian that ruled them."

Elephants in peace and war know their duty, and are more obedient to the word of command than many rational beings. It is said they can travel, on an emergency, two hundred miles in fortyeight hours; but will hold out for a month, at the rate of forty or fifty miles a day, with cheerfulness and alacrity. I performed many long journeys upon an elephant given by Ragobah to colonel Keating; nothing could exceed the sagacity, docility, and affection of this noble quadruped; if I stopped to enjoy a prospect, he remained immoveable until my sketch was finished; if I wished for ripe mangos growing out of the common reach, he selected the most fruitful branch, and breaking it off with his trunk, offered it to the driver for the company in the houdah, accepting of any part given to himself with a respectful salem, by raising his trunk three times above his head, in the manner of the oriental obeisance, and as often did

he express his thanks by a murmuring noise. When a bough obstructed the houdah, he twisted his trunk around it, and, though of considerable magnitude, broke it off with ease, and often gathered a leafy branch, either to keep off the flies, or as a fan to agitate the air around him, by waving it with his trunk; he generally paid a visit

at the tent door during breakfast, to procure sugar-candy or fruit, and be cheered by the encomiums and caresses he deservedly met with: no spaniel could be more innocently playful, nor fonder of those who noticed him, than this docile animal, who, on particular occasions, appeared conscious of his exaltation above the brute creation.

PROJECTS.