and on the Sexes of Mosses. 477 



made this experiment satisfactory, the supposed anthers should have been 

 detached completely from the scales of the bud ; or the growing bud should 

 have been dissected, and the new parts have been traced distinctly to the 

 anthers. The first experiment I have tried, but only in one instance. It 

 did not corroborate the statement of Meese, although the subject of the 

 experiment was the same species as that which he employed, — Polytrichum 

 commune. 



The most satisfactory refutation of the theory of Hedwig will be found in 

 the anatomy of the pistillum, where the impregnation of the seeds is sup- 

 posed by him to take place. It is strange that the structure of this organ 

 should have been so long misunderstood ; that the young theca, under the 

 name of germen, should have been supposed to be concealed in the bosom of 

 the pistillum ; a supposition of which there is not the shadow of a proof. If 

 we refer to the description in the first part of this paper, we shall find that the 

 cavity of the pistillum is occupied, in the first instance, by a single cell ; and 

 that this cell always remains at the base of the seta, where it may be found to 

 the very last, tipping the conical extremity. We also find that before one 

 particle of the theca can be formed, the seta must be developed : a process 

 which, in many instances, occupies two or three months after the destruction 

 of the pistillum. It is scarcely necessary to ask, how it is possible that the 

 sporules can be impregnated before the theca, in which they are developed, is 

 in existence. If sexes are to be found in Mosses, they must be sought in the 

 theca; and accordingly we find that various botanists, probably impressed 

 with this idea, have named in succession all the different parts of this organ 

 as performing the function of the anthers. Some have fixed on the columella ; 

 others on the peristome ; others on the operculum. It is altogether unneces- 

 sary to enter on an examination of the truth of these various hypotheses, as 

 their original proposers have adduced so little in their support, that no one at 

 present considers them worth the slightest attention. 



I beg leave to submit to the notice of physiologists the following view of the 

 nature of the sporules. After a series of observations, I am led to believe that 

 the sporules of Mosses, and I may add, of all cellular plants, are analogous to 

 the pollen of the P'asculares, slightly modified by circumstances, but agreeing 



