Botanical Collections. 59 



one or more whorls ; they are evidently not inere lacerations of a membrane, be- 

 cause they are in a constant and regular number in each genus, and that number 

 is universally some multiple of 4, as the floral leaves of flowering plants are or- 

 dinarly of 3, 4, or 5 ; they have the power of contracting an adhesion with each 

 other by their contiguous margins, as the floral leaves of flowering plants ; they 

 alter their position from being inflexed with their points to the axis, to being re- 

 curved with their points turned outwards, — exactly what happens in flowering 

 plants ; the teeth of the inner peristomium often alternate with those of the outer, 

 thus conforming to the law of alternation prevalent in the floral leaves of flowering 

 plants ; and, Anally, if we compare the various states of the leaves of Buxbau- 

 mia aphylla with the teeth of Mosses, it is impossible not to be struck with the 

 great similarity in the anatomical structure of the two. These are the consider- 

 ations which have led me to the conclusion, that the calyptra, the operculum, 

 and the teeth of Mosses, are all modified leaves ; and hence that the theca is to 

 be considered more analogous to a flower than to a seed-vessel. With regard to 

 the membrane, or epiphragma, which occasionally closes up the orifice of the 

 theca, it may be considered as formed by the absolute cohesion of the leaves of 

 the peristomium, just as the operculum of Eudesmia is formed by the cohesion 

 of the petals ; and this is confirmed, first, by Calymperes, in which the mem- 

 brane ultimately separates into teeth, and by the fact that the horizontal mem- 

 brane exists most perfectly in such genera as Politrichum and Lyellia, in which 

 there is no distinct peristomium. It now remains to explain the internal struc- 

 ture of the theca consistently with the theory that has been advanced of the peris- 

 tomium, operculum, and calyptra. I consider the theca to be merely the thick- 

 ened apex of the axis, the sporules to be a partial dissolution of its cellular tissue, 

 and the columella to be the uncontroverted centre. That the end of the axis of 

 plants frequently becomes much more incrassated than the theca of Mosses, re- 

 quires no illustration for those who are acquainted with the spongy receptacle of 

 Nelumbium, Rubus, and Fragraria, the dilated disk of Ochna, the curious genus 

 Eschscholtzia, or Rosa, or Calycanthus, or, finally, the spadix of Arums. That 

 the tissue is frequently separated by nature for particular purposes, is proved by 

 the production of pollen out of the cellular tissue of an anther, and by the ge- 

 neral law of propagation that seems to prevail in flowerless plants, as Ferns, Li- 

 chens, Algss, and Fungi ; the same phenomenon may be therefore expected in 

 Mosses. That the columella should be left in this dissolution of the tissue might 

 be expected, from its being a continuation of the seta or axis of development, 

 the tissue of which is more compact, and of course less liable to separation, than 

 the looser tissue that surrounds it ; this is analogous to the separation of the pol- 

 len from the connectivum of most plants, or from parts only of the anther of all 

 those genera which, like Viscum, ^Egiceras, or Rafflesia, have what are called 

 cellular anthers ; and to the very common separation of the placenta, or a portion 

 of it, from the dissepiments, as in Bignoniaceas, Ericeae, and many others. That 

 it is presumptuous in me, who lay no claim to reputation as a Cryptogamic bo- 

 tanist, to offer any opinion upon plants I have only occasionally studied, I am 

 fully sensible ; but I hope for the indulgence of the skilful Cryptogamist, in 

 consideration of this having been the first attempt to call his attention to the in- 

 quiry. 



Botanical Collections of M. Saltzmann in Brazil — M. Saltzmann, known 

 for his collections of plants in the South of France, Spain, Corsica, and Algiers, 

 has returned from the coast of Brazil with new riches. Some of the species which 

 he has gathered, have been described by M. A. St. Hilaire and by M. Martius, 

 but most of them are new. JM. De Candolle has already described a number of 

 these plants belonging to the families RubiacecB and Valeriana, in the 4th Vol. 

 of his Prodromus. 



