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III. Observations on the Germination of Mosses : in a Letter th 



William 3 ackson Hooker, Esq. F.L.S. By Mr. James Dru\fi- 



jnond, A.L.Sr 



Read March 2, 1819- 

 Dear Sir, 



If you think the following account of some experiments made 

 in the Cork Botanic Garden, by sowing the powder found in the 

 ripe capsules of Funaria hygrometrica, and their results, would 

 throw any light on this hitherto obscure part of the physiology 

 of Mosses, I should feel much obliged if you would forward it 

 to the Linnean Society. 



The way in which young mosses are produced from the seeds 

 being nearly the same in more than thirty different kinds which 

 I have had an opportunity of observing, I select the Funaria 

 hygrometrica, on account of its being one of the most common 

 and best adapted for experiments. 



In the month of May 1817 I sowed the powder found in the 

 ripe capsules of this moss on pots of earth, previously prepared 

 by baking in a metal oven. I plunged the pots in a basket 

 amongst moist Sphagnum palustre, and the whole I kept covered 

 with a large cap-glass, and shaded occasionally from the sun. 



My object being to ascertain by different means the form of 

 the young plants, I sowed at the same time some seeds of the 

 moss in rain-water, in which I found them readily germinate ; 

 and by daily examining with a compound microscope the seeds 

 sown in water, and comparing them with the young plants pro- 

 duced 



