104 Mr. Babington on Valerianella olitoria and Y. gibbosa. 



That the external membrane is not continued on to these pa- 

 pillary projections may be seen by an examination of the pol- 

 len of Stachytarpheta mutabilis, in which there is a distinct 

 line of separation between them and the surface of the exter- 

 nal membrane. 



With respect to the motion of the "molecular particles" 

 found in the fovilla, Mohl thus expresses himself: — " 1 can- 

 not refrain from remarking on this subject, that the move- 

 ment of the grains differs in no way from the motion of all 

 other little organic and inorganic particles ; for example, glo- 

 bules of milk, whether vegetable or animal, metallic precipi- 

 tates, &c. ; that their oscillatory motion is altogether the same, 

 and is distinguished in a manner equally striking from the 

 spontaneous movement of infusories." 



In concluding my strictures, I would observe, that to Dr. 

 Mohl is due, and ought to be accorded, the highest credit, 

 both for the general accuracy of his observations, as well as 

 for their great extent. Mohl, although in error in a few in- 

 stances, has been very successful in his perception of the chief 

 differences which characterize the principal types of pollen 

 granule met with in the course of his investigations; and it is 

 a source of no little gratification to me to find that 1 should 

 have arrived at results in this respect so nearly similar to 

 Mohl's own, deduced from investigations carried on independ- 

 ently of all knowledge of his previous inquiries but that ac- 

 quired from Lindley's 4 Introduction/ Mohl's work in 4to, 

 with 6 plates, was published in Berlin in 1834, a short time 

 subsequently to the appearance of Fritzsche's first memoir in 

 the Transactions of the St. Petersburgh Academy upon the 

 same subject. An abridged translation of Mohl's work is con- 

 tained in the c Annales des Sciences Naturelles,' vol. iii. 2nd 

 Series, — Botanique. 



Of Mohl's opinions regarding the value of the pollen gra- 

 nule as an assistant in classification, I have spoken fully in a 

 paper, a portion of which is inserted in Annals for last Oc- 

 tober *. 



January 17th, 1842. 



XII. — On Valerianella olitoria and\> gibbosa. By Charles 



C. Babington, M.A., F.L.S., F.G.S. 

 In a valuable paper upon the genus Fedia (Valerianella) pub- 

 lished in the 6 Linnsean Transactions/ Mr. Woods states that 



* The above observations were penned on a perusal of Mohl's work, made 

 some time subsequently to the completion of my paper on the pollen, the 

 greater part of which has yet to appear, and which is delayed until the nu- 

 merous illustrations which accompany it can be got ready. 



