and Propagation- sf marine Phhth^ ' J5I 



i3 fo carefully enveloped with an. imiienetrable baitier^ formed by 

 the concave pofition of the leaves, that the poiTen is cn;:bfed to con- 

 vey its feitiUzing vapour in an element, which by coutaft would 

 ©b(iru£t the progrefs- of fecundation. The genns Chara feems to in- 

 dicate aa approach towards that terminating point,.;* here the me- 

 chanical florefcence ceafes at length to aft. Some refpeftable au- 

 thors, and Haller among the number, do not admit that the fup- 

 pofed antherae can be inverted with the faculty of impregnation, 

 becaufe they are permanently included in an impervious part of the 

 plant. Hedwig, who has defined the florefcence of this genus with 

 great precifion, acknowledges h'imfelf to be tottllly at a lofs to ac- 

 count for that operation, becaufe the fpherlcal veffel, in which the 

 anther-je* are included, has no external communication with the 

 approximating germ. It is very probable, howeVer, that the veflel 

 alluded to may,, from its contiguity to the lower part of the germ, 

 convey thither, at the point of conta£l, the impregnation by an iii- 

 ternal procefs,. A very flight comparifon will at once difcover the 

 total want of fimilitude in ftrufture, fituation, and oeconomy, be- 

 tween the veflels of the Chara^in which the fecundation appears to 

 be carried on internally, and thofe air-bladders in fome of the Fucj\ 

 fuppofed to be the refidence of the male flower. 



Enough has already been faid upon the Linnean fl:ate of floref- 

 cence. We have a clear and reftrided definition of its conflituent 

 parts, while its laws are found to accord with furprifing uniformity 

 through all the various clafles, which were, formed by the great 

 founder of the fyflem. Yet there is a point where its accuftomed 

 mechanifm ceafes to aft;, where the nature and agency of its impreg- 

 nating powers undergo a materiar change. And here fiirely we 

 may paufe, to contemplate the verfatile power by which Nature is 



* Theor, Hediir, -p, 129. 



enabled . 



