252 VEGETABLE ORGANOGRAPHY. 



pretending to give here a methodical arrangement of 

 the Algas. 



Those who desire to study the subject more in detail 

 should consult the works of Muller, Hedwig, and espe- 

 cially those of Bory St. Vincent, Agardh, Lymgbye, 

 and Fries. 



§ 1 . — Of the Characese. 



The Characeae, though composed of the single genus 

 Char a, present an organization so remarkable that we 

 cannot as yet affirm what is their true place in the na- 

 tural system. I have elsewhere (Book II. Ch. IV. Sect. 6) 

 spoken of the structure of their stem ; it only remains 

 for me to make known that of their flowers and fruit. 



Upon the inner side of the verticillate branches of 

 Char a there arise from each node two little bodies 

 which appear to be the sexual organs ; one of them, 

 situated a little below the other, and laterally, seems to 

 be the male apparatus, for it disappears very soon ; the 

 other, surrounded at its base with three or four little 

 branches, appears to be the female organ, for it remains 

 long after the other, and produces a new individual. 



The male apparatus or anther is a red reticulated 

 disc, bordered by a white transparent membrane formed 

 of cellules, the partitions of which ars distinct. When 

 this body is cut across, we see it filled : 1st, with divided 

 transparent filaments ; 2d, with oval corpuscules filled 

 with the red matter which colours the disc ; this matter 

 comes out when the membrane which contains it is 

 pressed. Hedwig and Vaucher consider these bodies as 

 grains of pollen, and the matter which they inclose as 

 the fovilla. 



The objections made to this opinion are — 1st, that no 

 one has seen the anther open to give passage to the 



