jc^O Col. VellEy'j Rcviarks on the Nature 



it appears to be highly probable, that the pollea of marine plants, if 

 fuch a body in reality may exift in the mucilage, muft be totally dif- 

 ferent in its quality from the pollen which carries on fo important 

 a function in the fexual fyfteni : it muft alfo be totally different in 

 its fubftance, becaufe it is not to be difcovered by the greateft mag- 

 nifying powers. 



But, giving the utmoft fcope to the hypothefis, and admitting that 

 this mucous pollen is attendant upon all the marine plants, either 

 internally or externally ; ftill it muft contain fome fubtrle vapour, 

 capable of paffing through the coriaceous texture either of the tu- 

 bercular pericarps or of the frond. And after all, what dots this 

 amount to ? Nothing more than that fome undefined vivifying 

 principle, refident in the internal fubftance of the plant, brings on 

 a ftate of impregnation, and anfwers every purpofe which the more 

 obvious mechanical laws of florefcence produce externally in an at- 

 mofphere, where no impediments exift to render their procefs ab- 

 ortive. 



After what has been already advanced, it may appear almoft fuper- 

 fluous to produce any further arguments againft the florefcence fup- 

 pofed to be concealed in the inflated parts of the. veficular Fuci. 

 I fhall therefore only briefly add, that the Fucus ferratus is entirely 

 deftitute of the air-bladders, and yet produces its frudtification in a 

 fimilar manner to the Fucus veftculofus\ but the advocates for floref- 

 cence may attribute the impregnation to the fmall external fila- 

 ments fo often nr ticed. Fucus Jtliqnofus and F. nodofus are perfeiSlly 

 free from thofe minute fafcicles; but then again the impregnation 

 may pofTibly be afcribed to the tracheae in the veficles or inflated- 

 leaves. What then remains to be faid of the Fucus ca/ialiculatus^ 



dried in the fun, and afterwards depofited, it will in a fliort time be covered with a white 

 efBorefcence of fea fait. 



7 which 



