PILTJLAEIA. 215 



through its sheath, and the root protrudes before it is as 

 long as the spore. After this first leaf has grown to about 

 the length of a couple of lines,- another issues from the 

 germ close to the former, and then a bud begins to be de- 

 veloped from some indefinite part of the germ, but, like the 

 leaves and root, from within the sheath. Sometimes this 

 bud appears immediately after the first leaf, and without the 

 production of a second. The bud is the rudimentary stem, 

 the first growth from it being a leaf exhibiting, though 

 slightly, evidence of gyration, and this is followed by a root 

 furnished with its own sheath, 



It is one of the doctrines of botanists, that in what are 

 called Acrogenous plants a group including Mosses, Club- 

 mosses, Scale-mosses, Horsetails, and Perns germination 

 takes place at no fixed point, but from any part of the 

 surface of the spores; indeed this is one of the leading dif- 

 ferences between what are called spores, and the reproduc- 

 tive organs of flowering plants, called seeds. But Mr. 

 Valentine maintains, that it is incorrect to say this of the 

 germination of Pilularia, for he is quite certain that in this 

 instance germination invariably takes place at a fixed 

 spot, which may be pointed out before germination has com- 

 menced. It is at a part of the spore, indicated by three ra- 



