and Propagation of vian'ne Plants. I^j 



a particular care to guard this operation from the prefeiice of that 

 'element; if pollen cap exifl in an a6live ftate under a mucous ap- 

 pearance ; and if the antherae of perfectly fubmerfed flowers are no- 

 thing elfe than clofed vefTels filled with nuicous pollen ; what doubt 

 can we entertain, that the mucilaginous veficles of the fubmerfed 

 ^i^^ (which contain alfo their feeds) are antherLt?'' 



I fliall now briefly confider this theory of florefcence, as taken up 

 upon the principles eftablifhed by Linnsus, and explained in the 

 technical language of that author. It may perhaps fcarcely be worth 

 while to obferve, that Mr. Correa de Scrra, at the beginning of the 

 above paflTage, appears to make a difl;in£lion between the terms 

 pollen and Jarina, which in fatEl are merely fynonymous. Pollen, 

 as explained by Linnaeus in the Philofophia Botan/'ca, fcems to have a 

 reference to the exterior form and appearance of the body itfelf, 

 more than to the fecundating vapour or power contained within it, 

 to which it afts principally as a vehicle *. This part of the flower 

 being almofl: univerfally found under a farinaceous form, is diftin- 

 guiflied by the appropriate term pollen, which implies a fine meal. 

 Waving therefore any objeiSlion that might be raifed againfl: the 

 expreflTion " mucous pollen," I cannot pafs over a fubfcquent remark, 

 in which the faculty of impregnation is attributed to the part con- 

 taining the feeds ; and the province of the anthers, fo diftinflly pre- 

 ferved in the fexual fyftem, is nearly blended with that of the feed- 

 veffel. The paflage alluded to is the following: " What doubt can 

 we entertain, that the mucilaginous veficles of the fubmerfed ^Ig^ 

 (which contain alfo their feeds) are anthera:?" In fhort, if the re- 

 production of thefe plants is to be elucidated by the Linnean theory 

 of florefcence, and its concomitant terms, efpecial care fhould be 



• Generatlonem vegetabilium fieri mediante pollinis antherarum illapfu fupra ftigmata, 

 qua ruinpitur polleo, efilatque auram feminalem, qux abforbetur ab humore ftigmatis, 



, Ph. Bit. fca. u/- 



Vol. v. X taken 



