346 OBSERVATIONS ON THE 



the substance of that body which occupies the centre of the 

 capsule, and to which botanists have given the name of 

 cohtmnula or columella. The supposed seeds of this author, 

 however, having entirely escaped the two most acute 

 and experienced observers in this department of botany, 

 Schmidel and Hedwig, in all the species of which they have 

 given dissections, it might fairly be concluded that they are 

 not of universal existence, and this alone would be sufficient 

 perhaps to overturn the hypothesis. But it would be more 

 satisfactory, if, while the accuracy of these excellent observers 

 was confirmed in other instances, the cause of that appear- 

 ance, which I apprehend has misled M. Beauvois, could at 

 the same time be pointed out. The species more particu- 

 larly described and figured by him in the American Trans- 

 actions^ is Hyimum veluthmm ; which therefore, had it 

 been in a proper state, I should have preferred as the sub- 

 ject of my examination ; but as he asserts that his observa- 

 tions were repeated, and with similar results, on all the 

 species of mosses found in the neighbourhood of Paris and 

 Lisle, I have chosen Fimaria liygromeirica, perhaps the 

 most general plant in existence ; v/liich therefore must have 

 been examined by him, and is within the reach of every 

 one. 



As, according to M. Beauvois, the action of the pollen on 

 the seeds does not take place till the separation of the 

 operculum, he probably did not conceive it necessary to 

 observe the capsule until it had acquired its full size, and 

 was in fact nearly ripe, or, as he terms it, in blossom. At 

 314] this period he examined under the microscope a transverse 

 section of the capsule, in which, as appears both from his 

 description and figure, he found a dense stratum of granular 

 matter, which he considered to be pollen, situated imme- 

 diately within the inner membrane ; while in the substance 

 occupying the centre, which he describes as reticulated, he 

 observed scattered granules, in size and appearance like 

 those of the pollen already mentioned : these he regards as 

 the genuine seeds, and the containing organ he calls the 

 capsule. 



It is remarkable •that he nowhere expressly states the 



