114 REPRODUCTIVE ORGANS. CHAP. III. 



particle consisting of a thin and membranous bag, 

 capable of resisting the action of the air, but ex- 

 tremely susceptible to the action of moisture, which 

 as soon as it meets with, it explodes, like the an- 

 ther itself, discharging a fine and subtile vapour, 

 or a sort of fluid in which there are contained glo- 

 bules still smaller. The discharge of the primitive 

 globules may be seen by placing an anther of the 

 Equisetum upon a bit of paper, and watching it 

 till it bursts ; when it will often afford a very cu- 

 rious and singular spectacle ; the globules after 

 having made their escape seeming to be still in 

 agitation, attracting and repelling one another, and 

 rebounding as if endowed with a peculiar irrita- 

 bility. The discharge of the secondary globules 

 is discoverable particularly in the pollen of the 

 Valerian ; and the experiment is best made by 

 placing the anthers on water.* 



Parts. Gaertner describes the globules of pollen as con- 



sisting of the following parts: 1st, An external 

 cuticle, sometimes smooth, and sometimes set with 

 hairs. '2dly, A cellular substance. 3dly, A pa- 

 renchyma contained in the cells, and seemingly a 

 rude and unorganized mass of granular matter. 

 The globules, if put into water, swell and burst ; 

 first the cuticle, then the interior cells, and then 

 the parenchyma, exploding and emitting a subtile 

 and elastic vapour, or sort of fovilla which swims 



' *" Phy-. drs Arbres, Liv. iii. chap, f., 



