( 1 66 ) 
organization exifts in all the various parts of 
plants, though from the want of a proper 1 
method of inveftigating them this may not 
be always vifible to us. Thefe pellucid threads 
are almoft conftantly in motion, and are faid 
to contra 61 thcmfelves upon the leaft breath 
of moift air, and, when wet with water, to 
roll round the green oval bodies from which 
they proceed. To fee this requires more 
powerful magnifying glades, and greater fkill 
in the conduct of them, than may probably 
fail to the mare of botanifts in general ; it 
will be well, therefore, at prefent, to take this 
curious hiftory upon trull i but an outline of 
the difcoveries of the moft eminent botanifts 
of our time ought to be known to all. Hed- 
wig makes no doubt that thefe green oval bo- 
dies are the feeds, as they gradually increafe in 
bulk, and when they fall the fpike ihrivels ; 
that the projecting fpikes are the fugmas, and 
the conical mbftances under the targets are the 
capfules, and the pellucid threads, with the 
fpoon-form fubftanccs attached to them, the 
filaments and ftamens ; the feeds are numerous, 
egg- form, or globular, placed upon and lapped 
up within the filaments of the ftamens. Future 
obferyations mult confirm or refute tfefe opi- 
nion. 
