499 
Fructification of the submersed Alga. 
contained in a proper uterus, consequently without a placenta- 
tion. They are, says Gjertner, part of the medulla of their 
mother, and their skin is part of the maternal one.* 
sd. They do not, in germinating, leave any coat behind.-f 
3d. In the confervas, whose grains have some likeness to 
fresh internodia, two or more of them very often coalesce, but 
give rise to only one individual.^ 
All these reasons require to be candidly discussed ; and I 
hope the result of the investigation will afford us many addi- 
tional motives to believe them to be true seeds. 
The first of these objections cannot stand the test of close 
examination. The grains of the Ceramiums (like those of the 
true Fuci) fall at a proper period, which Gjertner calls senium, 
but which others will call maturity. If gently squeezed, they 
come forth from the little cavity where they are formed, and 
which they must leave when ripe. They eome forth whole, and 
disengaged from the mother, and from every part of the frons ; 
they have therefore a skin of their own. They are contained 
in a small uterus, proportionate to their size, which is of a tem- 
porary existence, and for them alone ; where they are no doubt 
affixed by some placentation, from which, when they come to ma- 
turity, they are disengaged and fall. If we add to these consi- 
derations, that of their existing there enveloped in a soft juicy 
substance, alltheir difference from the seedsofthetruefuci wholly 
disappears ; § and a strong probability arises, that Gartner's 
* De Fructibus, &c. pag. xvi. et seq. f Ibidem, pag. xi. 
J Ibidem, pag. xviii. 
§ I have made mention of the Ceramiums in this paper only to follow Gjertnsr 
through his objections. This genus, first made by Donati, adopted by Adanson, and 
Gartner, has in reality scarcely any difference from the fuci. 
