361. 
men begins to swell, in consequence of its im ation, 
These substances, of whose gt acknowled. cyene igno- 
rant, may for the present be called mendes pistils; see 
fig. 26. They are so like the real pistils, that one might 
readily believe nature had formed the flowers with many 
_ pistils, in order that some might have the better chance of 
impregnation. But there are several circumstances which 
refute this supposition. Probably they are intended to 
supply the flowers with moisture in dry weather.* 
Ti fe rudiment of the fruit, or pistil of the Buxpaumra 
sessilis, Pl. xiv. f. 25... : 
f. 26. A female flower of the Bryum extinctorium, 
with the swecudent pistils. 
of the Carsuxe and the CAcyprra or Vet. 
The pistils, after impregn ation, daily growing larger, 
and rising upwards, shew. the part “a known by the 
thrown off, the 
NG and the Pertsroma, or Frincx, become visible. 
f, 29.*The Vex of the JunGERMANNIA pusilla 
 f. 99. The Vern, ~ 
Of the Carsute or Seed-vessel. 
From what has been alledged, it is evident that what 
(cree the Anthers, are really the Seed-vessels, 
and by sowing the seed which they contam, [ have re- 
peatedly procured a crop of young plants, in all respects 
similar to their parents. | | | 
The Capsules of Mosses are always supported upon a 
fruit-stalk, though sometimes it is very short; and except~ 
* These substances may aptly be compared to the florets 
with superfluous pistils in the order Polygamia superflua of 
the class Syngenesia, or to the barren florets in the umbel~ 
liferous plants of the Pentandria class; and their uses may 
probably be the same, whatever those uses may be. 
