64 PROCEEDINGS OF SOCIETIES. 
this substance cannot be regarded as a blastema, nor its im- 
bedded cells as formative cells, for the production of new 
fibres ; and he is disposed to ascribe the enlargement of the 
uterus in pregnancy principally to the enlargement of the 
muscular fibres, and the addition of this new deposit. 
The following is a summary of the conclusions which the 
author has arrived at on the main subject of his inquiry :— 
In both kinds of muscles, voluntary and involuntary, there 
is an interweaving of the fibres with the formation of meshes. 
The fibres in both kinds are long, slender, rounded cords 
of uniform width, except at the ends, where they are fixed by 
tendinous tissue ; and in both, the size of the fibres in the 
same bundle varies greatly. 
In neither voluntary nor involuntary muscle is the fibre of 
the nature of a cell, but in both is composed of minute threads 
or fibrils. Its surface-appearance in both kinds of muscle 
allows of the supposition that in both it is constructed in a 
similar way, namely, of small particles or “ sarcous elements,” 
and that a difference in the arrangement of these elements 
gives a dotted appearance to the involuntary, and a transverse 
striation to the voluntary fibres. 
The length of the fibres varies in both cases with the organ 
or part examined, and the connection with tendon always 
takes place after the same manner, whether the fibre is 
dotted or striated. 
On the addition of acetic acid, fusiform or rod-shaped cor- 
puscles make their appearance in all muscular tissue; these 
bodies, which appear to belong to the sheath of the fibre, 
approach nearest in their characters to the corpuscles belong- 
ing to the yellow or elastic fibres which pervade various 
other tissues; and, from the apparent identity in nature of 
these corpuscles in the different textures in which they are 
found, and especially in voluntary as compared with mvolun- 
tary muscle, it is scarcely conceivable that m the latter case 
exclusively they should be the nuclei of oblong cells consti- 
tuting the proper muscular tissue. 
The paper concludes with a statement of the mode of pro- 
cedure which the author has found most suitable for examin- 
ing the tissue which forms the subject of his inquiry. 
Linnean Socruty, February 3d, 1857. 
On the Cultivation of Mosses. By the Rev. H. H. Hicerns. 
Communicated by N. B. Warp, Esq., F.L.S. 
| senp a few particulars respecting the cultivation of 
