PARTS OF FRUCTIFICATION IN MOSSES. 317 



manner in which this capsule bursts : but it may be inferred, 

 from the use he assigns to the peristomium, that he supposes 

 it to eject its contents by the upper extremity : for, if the 

 bursting were lateral, the seeds would at once come into 

 contact with the pollen : but though impregnation would in 

 this way more certainly be accomplished, the motions of the 

 ciliae could no longer be considered as in any degree assist- 



Desirous to examine an object as nearly similar as possible 

 to that on which the hypothesis appears to be founded, I 

 in the first place made a transverse section of the full-grown 

 but green capsule of Funaria hygrometrica ; and, I confess, 

 was both surprised and disappointed to find it, under the 

 microscope, exactly resembling M. Eeauvois' figure [IS]. 

 But little reflection, however, was necessary to show that 

 these scattered granules might either have been forced into 

 the pidpy central substance, by the pressure necessarily 

 appHed to the stratum of pollen in making the section, or, 

 what is more probable, been carried over its surface by the 

 cutting instrument, which had previously passed through 

 this stratum. Accordingly, by repeated immersion in water, 

 and more readily still by the careful application of a small 

 hair-pencil, the greater part of the granules was removed. :3i5 

 A transverse section at an earlier stage of the capsule, before 

 the falhng of the calyptra, exhibited, as I expected, fewer 

 granules on the substance of the columella, and which were 

 removable in like manner. Lastly, by a longitudinal sec- 

 tion, in which, if well performed, the scalpel could not be 

 supposed to carry any part of the pollen over the surface of 

 the columella, I obtained a distinct view of this part, per- 

 fectly free from these supposed seeds, and evidently con- 

 sisting of large cells filled with an uniform pulpy substance ; 

 a continuation of which occupied the cavity of the oper- 

 culum. 



From these observations, even added to those of Schmidel 

 and Hedwig, though they seem conclusive against tlie hypo- 

 thesis of M. Beauvois, I by no means pretend to reason 

 strictly respecting the whole order : on the contrary, from the 

 conversations I have had with my ingenious and accurate 



