the Seminal Fluid of Animal*. 343 



to them, might be mistaken for globules of pollen, with their 

 offshoots forcing their way through the style. 



" To illustrate these remarks, I communicate here some de- 

 tached observations on the state in which I found the stigma, 

 style, and pollen of different plants after the parts of the flower 

 had withered, in cases where fructification had been accom- 

 plished, and where this process had not taken place. What I 

 shall say with respect to the Iris pseudacorus will, at the same 

 time, serve to determine more accurately the mode of fructifica- 

 tion in these plants, and to rectify the earlier observations which 

 I made on this point in vol. ii. sect. 2, of my work on the Phe- 

 nomena and Laws of Organic Life. 



'* Treviranus then proceeds to describe the phenomena of 

 fructification in the Hemerocallis flava, Iris pseudacorus, Cypri- 

 pedium calceolus, Tellima grandiflora, and Hypericum perfo- 

 ratum ; and concludes by observing, that the last result of his 

 comparison of animal and vegetable semen is, that externally 

 there is no essential difference between them. He thinks, there- 

 fore, that the term, c animal pollen/ would be a more appro- 

 priate name for the organised parts of animal semen than the 

 appellation seminal animalcula, by which they have been 

 hitherto designated." 



In two papers on the same subject in Muller's Archiv fiir 

 Anatomic et Physiologic, No. iii. and iv., by Professor Wagner 

 and Dr Rudolphi, the statements do not exactly correspond with 

 those of Treviranus. Professor Wagner describes the semen of 

 the Emeriza citronella as an homogeneous fluid, containing two 

 sorts of bodies, Jirst, linear or hare-shaped bodies, having one of 

 their ends twisted spirally like a corkscrew ; and, secondly, glo- 

 bules of various sizes, and vesicles containing granular globules. 

 The first kind of bodies, which he regards as the true seminal 

 animalcules, are generally found in the seminal fluid of the tes- 

 ticle, collected in bundles, and enclosed in a delicate sac, one 

 end of which gradually disappears, and some time afterwards the 

 other end bursts, leaving the linear bodies without any envelope. 

 In the vas deferens, these bodies are mostly seen in close tangled 

 masses,* intermixed with the smaller kind of globules. Here 

 also, according to Professor Wagner, they exhibit very remark- 

 able vibratory movements, although he could not discover any 

 trace of vital motion in them while in the testicle. 



