TIIE MICROSCOPE AND THE FLOWER GARDEN. 



13 



beings ; and as when mature, they are liable to be washed out by rain, and to be t 

 carried to different parts of the neighbouring surface, and as they grow rapidly whilst 

 supplied with moisture, the rapid extension of the plant, under such circumstances, is 

 readily accounted for.' This plant is not, however, propagated solely by these disk-like 

 buds ; it being, in common with the whole class of Cryptogamia, or Flowerless plants 

 to which it belongs, multiplied also by minute seeds, or properly speaking, spores, 

 contained in cases arranged radially, or like the spokes of a wheel around a central 

 body, termed the pelta or shield, which is mounted on a long stalk. The curious 

 structures which are thus displayed by one of the most common of the liver-worts, 

 -and which, as -we have intimated, may be easily studied with the aid of any good 

 single microscope, are well calculated to impress the mind with the philosophical truth 

 embodied in the seeming paradox of a French writer, ' that if the Author of nature 

 is great in great things, he is exceedingly great in little ones.' 



We would gladly linger among the Cryptogamic plants, and point out, amongst 

 other marvels, the minute and wonderful anatomy of the reproductive organs of the 

 Fern-tribe, particularly of that division of the class termed by botanists, annulate, and 

 of which the common Polypody fPolypodium vulgaris] may be taken as an illustration. 

 If we examine a leaf or frond of this plant, we shall find that its back is studded 

 with a number of round, green or brown prominent spots, which are named by botanists, 

 sori. Each of these sori is composed of a vast number of minute capsules or theca?, 

 which arise from the surface of the leaf, by very short and slender footstalks, each 

 capsule being filled with spores, and furnished with an elastic ring or annulus, the 

 office of which is, by rupturing the capsule when it arrives at maturity, to scatter 

 the spores or seed-like grains in every direction. And it is an interesting experiment 

 to place a few of these, when nearly ripe, upon a sheet of paper, exposed to the direct 

 rays of the sun; and, as they become dry, to watch them with the microscope ejecting 

 on all sides their innumerable germs. 



We cannot but admire this beautiful application of a mechanical law, to affect the 

 dispersion of the sporules ; indeed, if such a provision had not been made, it is far 

 from improbable that many of the species would have long since been extinct ; seeing 

 that, if in the artificial propagation of ferns, by sowing the spores, the latter be allowed 

 to fall too thickly on any spot, the young plants to which they give birth soon interfere 

 with each other's growth, or, in the language of gardeners, ' fog,' so that under these 

 circumstances but few arrive at maturity. How simply then, and yet how wisely, has 

 Nature guarded against such a contingency ! 



If from this digression we now turn to that division of the vegetable kingdom to the 

 illustration of which our little work is more especially devoted, viz. the Flowering plants, 

 we shall find proofs equally interesting with those already adduced, of the most admirable 

 contrivance and design. 



Frofessing then to write only for those unacquainted with botanical science, and the use 

 of the microscope, we will select for examination a plant belonging to the well defined 

 Natural order or tribe, the Composite, or compound flowers, of which the French Marigold, 



