1858.] VEGETABLE PHYSIOLOGY. 349 



endeavour to discover the male organs of fertilization in Ferns, 

 by the aid of the microscope, many singular and interesting 

 sights presented themselves to his eyes. 



Bearing this in mind, we see how much there is in the bota- 

 nical field which would be discovered if persons would more 

 closely examine plants under the moderate power of a micro- 

 scope; and I would earnestly recommend those who delight in 

 this study to look at all they see with a microscopic eye, — not 

 only examine the structure of plants, by making sections, both 

 transverse and longitudinal, but also the form of the seeds, the 

 pollen, and the smaller parts of the plant. There is great 

 beauty in the form and structure of these, which cannot be seen 

 by the naked eye. Besides, plants afford other objects worthy 

 of observation, and these are often seen when (like Mr. Leighton) 

 we may not be looking for them. 



For instance, there are spermatic animalcules of Liverworts 

 and Mosses, which have tails like those of animals, and develope 

 themselves singly in the grains of pollen. The globules are only 

 cells of slime, in which the animalcule forms itself. The cell 

 then disappears, and the animalcules lie curled in the spiral form 

 in the thread of pollen, which bursts in water and releases the 

 animalcule. They at first cling by their taU to the thread, but 

 afterwards swim about freely. 



In Marchantia polymorpha a single animalcule proceeds from 

 every cell of pollen-mass. 



Thuret has observed, in the interior of the anthers (globules) 

 of Chara vulgaris and C. Jiispida, flexuose transparent chambered 

 filaments of unequal length, in which are contained animalcules, 

 at first motionless, but afterwards struggle to release themselves. 

 They appeared like a spirally-rolled thread of three to five curves, 

 with two appendages or tentacula of excessive tenuity, which the 

 animalcule agitates with great rapidity. 



Beeper has shown that the Sphagnum obtusifolium (Bog Moss) 

 contains little openings, into which the animalcule Rotifer vul- 

 garis, under favourable circumstances, might enter. Morren ob- 

 served, with the aid of high magnifying power, that in specimens 

 of Vaucheria clavata, found at Everghem, he detected the same 

 animalcule, with its cilia imitating the wheel, etc. The creature 

 buried itself in its prison, descending into the tubes of the plant, 

 and nestling itself in the middle of a mass of green matter. 



