CRYPTOGAMOUS PLANTS. 239 



short and sometimes scarcely visible filament, and of an 

 oval or oblong sac or anther : this sac presents no trace 

 of a suture, and is unilocular ; the apex presents a glan- 

 dular point, by which, at maturity, the cell opens, and 

 we see it emit, in intermittent jets, a viscid fluid. Does 

 this represent the fovilla contained in the grains of pol- 

 len ? or, do the pollinic globules here swim in a parti- 

 cular liquid? This liquid, as well as all the male or- 

 gans, is of a greenish colour ; after it has been emptied, 

 the half-dried sac takes a yellowish or brownish colour, 

 and the cellular organization is visible to the microscope 

 under the form of a net-work. In a small number of 

 Mosses, Sphagnum palustre, for example, the anther is 

 large, oval, and borne upon a long filament. 



The female organs of Mosses, considered at the time 

 of flowering, entirely compose certain capitula said to be 

 female flowers, and are found in the centre of those 

 called hermaphrodite ones. In both cases their number 

 varies from three to four, or even eight or ten ; but, 

 whatever be the number, there is hardly ever more than 

 one which arrives at the state of fruit; the others become 

 abortive, and are thrown oif under the form of scales 

 intermixed with the paraphyses. 



Each organ is sessile or nearly so ; at the time of 

 flowering, we distinguish an ovary, usually oval and of 

 a reddish brown colour, a filiform style of the same co- 

 lour, and a slightly expanded stigma opening at fecun- 

 dation. All this apparatus is surrounded by a mem- 

 branous integument, which, after flowering, is elevated 

 by the elongation of the pedicel of the fruit, breaks at 

 the base, and receives the name of Calyptra, on ac- 

 count of its hood-like appearance. Hedwig considers it 

 as the corolla of Mosses, and this comparison is tenable, 

 provided that we only consider it as a short way of in- 

 dicating that it is an intimate integument of the flower; 



