We have thus sufficient evidence before us to prove that salt or sea water does not totally destroy the vitality of seeds when they are in a dry state, that some of them will float for 90 days, and when planted subsequently will germinate; but that when not dry they will sink immediately. We may, therefore, justly conclude from the result of these experiments that salt is not noxious to vegetable life, neither does it destroy the latent principle of procreation which exists in them; and that though the process of germination may be retarded, and kept in a state of abeyance, it is not virtually annihilated, as one would feel inclined to predict, by the prolonged immersion of seeds in salt-water, be they dried or fresh. Darwin’s experiments were afterwards verified, for he states that subsequently M. Martens tried “similar ones, but in a much better manner, for he placed the seeds in a box in the actual sea, so that they were alternately wet and exposed to the air like really floating plants. He tried 98 seeds, mostly different from mine; but he chose many large fruits and likewise seeds from plants which live near the sea; and this would have favoured both the average length of their flotation, and their resistance to the injurious action of the salt water. On the other hand, he did not previously dry the plants or branches with the fruit; and this, as we have seen, would have caused some of them to have floated much longer. The result was that 18/98 of his seeds of different kinds floated for 42 days, and were then capable of germination. But I do not doubt that plants exposed to the waves would float for a less time than those protected from violent movement as in our experiments. Therefore it would, perhaps, be safe to assume that the seeds of about 10/100 parts of a flora, after having been dried, could be floated across a space of 900 miles in width, and would then germinate. The fact of the larger fruits often floating longer than the small, is interesting; as plants with large seeds or fruit which, as Alph. de Candolle has shown, generally have restricted ranges, could hardly be transported by other means.” Darwin’s experiments show us that salt or sea water does not entirely extirpate the life which is dormant in seeds, and those of Martens prove that seeds may be immersed in sea-water itself and yet retain the power of germination; and that when dry they may even float for 900 miles, and germinate when planted; developing into plants at the usual period of time allotted by nature!