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Affinities, These little plants, which form one of the most interesting 

 departments of Cryptogamic Botany, are distinctly separated from all the other 

 tribes by the peculiar structure of their reproductive organs, in which they re- 

 semble no others, except some Hepatic^, which, however, approach them in 

 this respect more in appearance than in reality. In their organs of vegetation 

 they are strikingly similar to many Lycopodiums, which are always to be 

 known by their vascular axis. The reproductive organs have been described 

 above as of two kinds. Those which are called axillary bodies have been 

 supposed to be anthers ; with how little reason will be clear from the following 

 extract from Dr. Greville and Mr. Arnott's excellent memoir, published in the 

 4th volume of the Transactions of the Wernerian Society, to which I refer 

 those who are desirous of minute information upon the structure and history of 

 Mosses : 



" What the organs really are, in the plants under review, which the accu- 

 rate Hedwig so well figured and described under the name of stamens, we 

 leave to others to decide ; but we cannot help entering our protest against 

 those bodies called Stamina and Pistilla (the young theca 1 ) being regarded in 

 a similar light with the same organs in more perfect plants. ' Though/ says 

 Sprengel, ' I have formerly been a zealous advocate for Hedwig's Theory of 

 the Fructification of JYlosses, it has nevertheless appeared to me an insur- 

 mountable objection, that the supposed anther can again produce buds and 

 strike roots, which is certainly the case with regard to the disks of Polytrichum 

 commune, Bartramia fontana, Bryum palustre, undulatum, cuspidatum, punc- 

 tatum, and with those of Tortula ruralis. In Bryum argenteum we see the 

 buds containing the supposed anthers constantly drop off, strike root, and pro- 

 duce new plants; this I have observed myself times out of number. Still 

 more in point is the experiment first made by David Meese, of sowing the stel- 

 lulse of Polytrichum commune, containing merely club-shaped bodies, when he 

 found that plants came up, which in their turn produced fruit. Another excel- 

 lent naturalist, Dr. Roth, has made similar observations with regard to Hyp- 

 num squarrosum and Bryum argenteum.' He afterwards adds, — ' It is more 

 probable, therefore, that these supposed anthers are gemmae, produced by the 

 superabundance of the juices, and hence surrounded by succulent filaments.'" 

 It is not necessary to adopt the exact conclusion at which the learned bota- 

 nist, whose opinions are thus quoted, arrived, to decide that these axillary bo- 

 dies are not stamens. He has not expressed himself in regard to their nature 

 very clearly, or perhaps he has been mistranslated; but this is of little conse 

 quence compared with the ascertained fact, that, be they what they may, they 

 are not anthers. Nevertheless, in the face of this evidence, M. Adolphc Brong- 

 niart retains a belief in the sexuality of Mosses, and in the slaminiferous func- 

 tions of the axillary bodies; and he says, with justice, that it appears from Mi- 

 Brown's mode of describing Mosses, that he entertains a similar opinion. It is 

 to be hoped that these distinguished botanists will some day favour us with a 

 statement of the evidence upon which I heir decision has been taken; for it is 

 to be presumed that something beyond the conjectures advanced in the article 

 Mousses in the Diclionnaire Classiqne, weighs down the positive testimony 

 of those who have seen the germination of the powder in the axillary bodies 

 Whether or not they can be called gemma?, will depend upon the sense in 

 which that term is employed. 



With regard to the theca there is now no difference of opinion, cither as to 

 its containing sporules, or as to the general nature of its organization. But 1 

 am not aware that any one has ever attempted to explain the analogy of its 

 structure until I ventured to introduce the subject very briefly into my Outline 

 of the First Principles of Botany. That perfect unity of design, which is 

 visible in all parts of the vegetable creation, and the constant adherence to the 



