CRYPTOGAMOUS PLANTS. 247 



can, with any likelihood, be considered as males, and if 

 fecundation take place, it is probable that the fecun- 

 dating fluid is contained in the same cavities as the 

 ovules, without having any apparatus of its own. 



Section VIII. 

 Of Lichens. 



Lichens, considered with regard to their fructification, 

 present kinds of discs or tubercules, which have received 

 the common name of Apothecia, and to which that of 

 Shields (scutellce), or Lyres (lyrellce), are given 

 when it is wished to designate their particular forms. 

 All these apothecia contain, at maturity, what appears 

 to be the true fruit, in which we find oval or globular, 

 opaque, blackish bodies, which appear to be the repro- 

 ductive corpuscules ; they have never, however, been 

 seen to germinate, but it is only by analogy, and not by 

 direct observation, that they are compared to seeds or 

 spores. 



This point being almost universally admitted, one is 

 asked if these bodies have been fecundated, and if the 

 function of a male organ can be attributed to any 

 known part of Lichens. Some have thought that certain 

 farinaceous efflorescences which are observed on different 

 parts, were masses of pollen ; others have believed that the 

 nearly globular parcels of pulverulent matter, collected 

 at the extremity of certain lobes of the thallus, replaced 

 this function. Others have attributed it to kinds of 

 cavities hollowed out in the thallus, and where it is said 

 that a poliniform matter is found. Neither of these 

 opinions is founded upon proof, or even upon sufficient 



