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314 Mr. Brown’s Observations on the 
or, as he terms it, in blossom. At this period he examined under 
the microscope a transverse section of the capsule, in which, 
as appears both from his description and figure, he found a 
. dense stratum of granular matter, which he considered to be 
pollen, situated immediately within the inner membrane ; while 
in the substance occupying the centre, which he describes as 
reticulated, he observed scattered granules, in size and appear- 
ance like those of the pollen already mentioned: these he 
regards as the genuine seeds, and the containing oi gan he calls 
the capsule. 
It is remarkable that he no where expressly states the manner 
in which this capsule bursts: but it may be inferred, from the 
use he assigns to the peristomium, that he supposes it to cject 
its contents by the upper extremity: for, if the bursting were la- . 
teral, the seeds would at once come into contact with the pollen : 
but though impregnation would in this way more certainly be 
accomplished, the motions of the cili:& could no longer be con- 
sidered as in any degree assisting it. | 
Desirous to examine an object as nearly similar as possible to 
that on which the hypothesis appears to be founded, I in the 
first place made a transverse section of the full grown but green 
capsule of Funaria hygrometrica; and, I confess, was both sur- 
prised and disappointed to find it, under the microscope, exactly 
resembling M. Beauvois’ figure [18]. But little reflection, how- 
ever, was necessary to show that these scattered granules. might 
either have been forced into the pulpy central substance, by the 
pressure necessarily applied to the stratum of pollen in making 
the section, or, what is more probable, been carried over its surface 
by the cutting instrument, which had previously passed through 
this stratum. Accordingly, by repeated immersion in water, and 
more readily still by the careful application of a small hair 
pencil, 
