382 On the Reproductive Organs of Pilularia globulifera, 
length, by the slender palpi of which the terminal joints are elon- 
gate, by the second joint of the legs being more than twice the 
length of the first, and by the oviferous legs of which the three ba- 
sal joints are stouter than the fourth, and this again is much stouter 
than the others, which form a sort of filiform appendage. 
Fig. 9. Nymphon gracile, iiat. size ; 1 0, the same magnified ; 1 1 , 
the head still more highly magnified and seen from below; 12, an 
oviferous leg highly magnified. 
VIII. Remarks on the Reproductive Organs of Pilularia globuli- 
fera } and the Globules of Char a vulgaris. By Mr GEORGE 
DICKIE. 
PILULARIA GLOBULIFERA belongs to the natural order Marsile- 
acese; the essential characters of which are, according to Lindley, 
" creeping plants ; leaves petiolate and divided, (or petioles desti- 
tute of lamina,) rolled up in vernation. Reproductive organs in- 
closed in leathery involucres, and of two kinds, the one consisting of 
membranous sacs, containing a body or bodies which germinate, the 
other, of similar sacs, containing loose granules." Sir W. J. Hooker 
gives the following definition of the genus Pilularia : " Involucres 
solitary, nearly sessile, globose, coriaceous, four-celled ; each cell con- 
taining two different kinds of bodies; (anthers ? and pistils?") The 
larger of these have been considered as thecse by Brown, Hooker, 
Greville, and others. Annexed is a magnified representation of one 
of the thecse. The smaller bodies are more numerous 
than the others, and their shape is simply orbicular ; 
both consist of a tough white membrane. Each 
of the larger bodies is contained in a reticulated 
transparent membrane, the smaller are in clusters 
inclosed together in a similar membrane. If one of 
the supposed thecse is ruptured, there issue numerous round tran- 
sparent particles ; these have been considered as sporules. While 
engaged in examining the nature of these particles, a zealous and ac- 
curate observer, Mr Peter Grant, of this place,* suggested to me the 
propriety of employing chemical tests. I furnished him with speci- 
mens, and, on examination, he discovered that the supposed sporules 
were coloured blue by iodine, thus demonstrating that they are grains 
of fecula or starch. I haye observed that along with the fecula there 
exists a fluid which possesses all the properties of a fixed oil. 
The small orbicular bodies have been supposed to be analogous to 
* Aberdeen. 
