They discovered that the Bonians were highly skilled in botany, and that they were to a great extent responsible for much of the vegetation on the planets belonging to the present solar system, as they had been in the previous system, and therefore the friends aptly named them the “spirits of vegetation.” On Bona were millions and millions of varieties of trees, plants, flowers, herbage and grasses, which they cultivated, sending the germs of their life on ether in the form of microscopically fine dust, which travelled to certain of the planets in such measure and variety as the individual worlds required, where they fell more or less abundantly as the climatic conditions were favourable, and it devolved on the Bonians to keep the worlds supplied; otherwise, should the seeds fail to be propagated by birds, insects, or by other plants, the variety would then die out. Here then would seem to originate the first germs, or the early forms of vegetable life, and by careful guarding and cross-fertilisation they obtained endless varieties, some suited to extremes of heat and cold. During one of the conversations, while the explorers were watching some luxuriant blooms which would probably, they thought, become parasites on Earth, perhaps some new order of orchid, the question was raised as to how some similar plants would grow—as they eventually would—on warm lava, and the natives told them that the plants were inoculated with a grub of a certain bug which would withstand any heat, even fire. Gilbert and Ross appeared a little incredulous, when Dennis observed,—“That is not so very extraordinary, if you come to think it over, for many parasitic forms of life in flesh-meat will withstand continued cooking and then develop in the body of the eater, which is one of the reasons, as you know, why our food is sterilised, compressed and enclosed in hermetically sealed and germ-proof capsules. Microbes also may be frozen in meat and remain inactive for years, yet be full of life and grow on the meat being thawed.” “Of course,” responded Gilbert; “now I come to think of it, Ross and I bought a mummy to experiment with some years ago, and when we had finished we set it on fire, and the gums and spices and seeds used in embalming burned furiously. We then threw the ashes on the garden and a dozen or more of the seeds took root and grew, although they were over three thousand years old and had passed through fire, so burning does not always destroy life.” “No, it does not,” assented Ross, “for I myself obtained plants from some seeds which I found embedded in lava, when I was unearthing some buried ruins. I had forgotten it for the moment.” He then sank into silence. Shortly Dennis asked him a question, but he was thinking so deeply that he did not hear; instead of answering he turned to a native and asked,—“Will this microbe, or grub, or whatever it is, stand actual fire, like hot lava, or burning gums?”