AcROGENs.] MUSCALES. 55 



Bartramia fontana, Brjoim palustre, undulatum, cuspidatiim, punctatum, and with those 

 of Tortula ruralis. In Bryum argcnteum we see the buds containing the supposed 

 anthers constantly drop oft, strike root, and produce new plants ; this I have observed 

 myself times out of number. Still more in point is the experiment first made by David 

 Mees, of sowing the stelluke of Polytrichum commune, containing merely club-shaped 

 bodies, when ho found that plants came up, which in their turn produced fruit. Another 

 excellent naturalist. Dr. Roth, has made similar observations with regard to Hypnum 

 squarrosum and Bryum aigenttum. It is more probable, therefore, that these supposed 

 anthers are mere gemmse, produced by the superabundance of the juices, and hence 

 surromided by succulent filaments.'" "^ Fries also, in his Plantce homonemece, xxxi., 

 expresses himself thus, " Musci sunt esexuales et in dicta organa masculina meras esse 

 gemmas vix dubium Aadeatm'." 



Nevertheless, in the face of this e-vddence, Adolphe Brongniart retains a beUef m the 

 sexuality of Mosses, and in the male functions of the axillary bodies ; and he says, w ith 

 justice, that it appears from Bi'own's mode of describing Mosses, that he entertains a 

 similar opinion. Dr. Taylor also thinks that the Liverworts show the presence of two 

 sexes in the most evident manner. {Linn. Trans, xvii. 375.) That the flask-like bodies 

 called pistillidia are female organs he considers proved by the germination of the dark 

 brown particles (spores) that are contained within them. He admits that no direct 

 evidence exists to show that the antheridia are male organs ; but he says that they dis- 

 charge a viscid whitish liquor, which is rapidly dissolved in the air, miiformly pre- 

 cede the pistilhdia, and have fulfilled their office before the seeds (spores) are ripe. 

 Dr. Montague follows on the same side {Ann. Sc. Nat. 2 Ser. ix. 100), with the sweep- 

 ing assertion that "no body now-a-days (1838) doubts that Mosses and Liverworts have 

 two sexes." Mr. Valentine, in two elaborate papers {Linn. Trans, xvii. 465, and xviii. 

 499), denies the sexuaHty of some plants at least of the Muscal Alliance ; justly observ- 

 ing, however, that the experiments mentioned by Sprengel and Mees are unsatis- 

 factory, there being no proof in them that it was the antheridia which grew ; it might 

 have been the whole mass of the stellate disks in which the antheridia occur. Mr. 

 Valentine relies upon the very important fact, first remarked by himself, that the 

 pistillidum, in which the spores are produced, is not in existence at the time when the 

 antheridia are in action. Like Mohl and Agardh, he maintams that the spores, although 

 equivalent to seeds, are almost identical with pollen grains. " The only difference," 

 he adds, " that I can find between pollen and sporules is, that the coat of the latter is of 

 a more rigid and opaque texture. From this diff'erence it is that the sporules rarely 

 bm-st in a sudden manner upon the application of water ; but when they do, the moving 

 particles are discharged loose in the water, precisely in the same manner as are those 

 of pollen." 



Upon this point however Mr. Griffith observes, that " it is to be borne in mind, that 

 whereas pollen is the result of a simple separation constituting a primary and inde- 

 pendent process ; in Musci, Hepaticse, Sahnnidee, the spores, otherwise so similar to 

 pollen, are the result of a secondary process, dependent on a primary one which appears 

 to be remarkably analogous to phanerogamic fecundation." 



Finally, Unger in his account of the anatomy of Riceia {Linncea, xiii. 13), states that 

 antheridia and pistillidia are alike at first, that'^the contents of the first are lost, of the 

 second retained, and that the first perishes while the second is permanent, — whence it is 

 reasonable to presume that the emission from the antheridia is a necessary condition 

 for the formation of spores. He therefore regards them as male and female. 



It seems clear from all these statements, that the question of sexes in the Muscal 

 Alliance is undecided. There is no doubt that two very different sorts of organs exist 

 among its species ; but it does not appear to me that w^e have sufficient evidence at 

 present to show that the antheridia are male organs. So far as they are concerned we 

 have conjecture and nothing more. All that is proved is: 1. That the spores are bodies 

 which reproduce the plant, and are, therefore, analogous to seeds ; and 2. That the 

 structure of the antheridia and pistilhdia is wholly at vai'iance with that of anthers and 

 pistils properly so called. 



Mr. Griffith, nevertheless, in an elaborate Memoir on Azolla and Salvinia, published ui 

 the Calcutta Journal of Natural History, adopts in the fullest extent the opinion that 

 Acrogens have sexes, as will appear hereafter. It is, however, to be remarked that the 

 question is not, whether there may not be in such plants as these seme trace of a male 

 and female principle, or certain organs in which it is probable that such a principle 

 resides ; but \Ahether there is any such stmctxire as that which we know to be sexual in 

 all the classes of plants higher than Acrogens. And I must confess, after reading Mr. 

 Griffith's very learned and ingenious observations, that my opinion remains unshaken 

 as to the existence of most essential differences between Acrogens and other plants in 

 all that regards the organs of reproduction. 



