86 The Microscope. 



tint, and so also are the lines of the network of 

 cells.* 



Fig. 1 1 represents the pollen of " Clarkia pulchella." 

 A small quantity of it looks, when highly magnified, 

 like an immense heap of glass rings, of three-cornered 

 form (fig. 11). That of the crown imperial is more 

 like grains of wheat. Fig. 1 2 represents some of this, 

 and fig. 13 shows some of the grains, magnified 300 

 diameters ; and it is wonderful to observe that their 

 surfaces are covered with a delicate pattern, just 

 perceptible with this high magnifying power. 



The pollen of " Salvia patens " is flat and round 

 (fig. 14). These pollen-grains can be viewed either 

 as opaque or transparent objects. They appear to 

 great advantage by the "background illumination," 

 described at page 72. A single grain of the pollen 

 of " Salvia patens " happening to be alone in the field 

 of view, with a dark background, curiously suggests 

 the planet Jupiter to one's mind, with its round yellow 

 disc, and belts stretching across. 



The figures of Plate VII., with the exception of 

 fig. 10, might be said to represent "the seed-vessels 

 observable on the backs of fern-leaves/' But so 

 different in structure are ferns from the true flowering 

 plants, that the expressions "leaves" and "seeds" 

 are not considered admissible in these days of careful 

 investigation, when objects are no longer classified by 



* It should be observed that the drawing (Plate VI., fig. 10) was 

 made from a dried specimen, in which the lines of the network are 

 more sharply marked, and the different shades of red appear more 

 detached from each other than in the fresh petal. 



