THE VEGETABLE KINGDOM. 



393 



of these pollen grains is really a species of utricle with a 

 double envelope, inclosing a fluid in which sometimes 

 swim myriads of animalcules.^ 



i \ i Ar, i 



218. Flowers protected by a Spatlie. Florentine Iris — Iris foventina (Linnseus). 



' The microscope was very little used by the botanists of last century, anil 

 we must come to our own age before we find the pollen perfectly described. 

 Guillemin attentively studied the infinite variety of its forms and sui-face. The 

 rtuid contained in each little pollen-vesicle was particularly studied by Messrs. 

 Mirbel, Brongniart, and Seringe, who all consider the numerous corpuscles 

 which move about in the midst of it as so many microscopic animalcules. The 

 German botanists, such as Schacht and others, designate them under the name 

 of antherozoa, in order to leave no doubt on the subject. 



