(see Conferva Encycl.) is introduced here merely on account of a curious circumstance respecting it, which was communicated, not long ago, to the Philomatic Society at Paris. Citizens Charles and Romain Coquebert having collected some of this Conferva in the neighbourhood of Paris, ascertained, by means of an excellent microscope, constructed by Nairne and Blunt, that, in this species, there are male and female filaments, which unite by an actual copulation; that certain globules contained in the male filaments pass into the interior part of the female filaments; and that by this union there are formed in the latter seeds, or, if we may use the expression, small ova, which reproduce the species. This is the first instance, in the vegetable kingdom, of a reproduction absolutely analogous to that which we find among animals. Philosophical Magazine, n° 3.

May this fact be depended on? We question not, in the slightest degree, the veracity of the editor of the very respectable miscellany from which we have copied it; but we confess ourselves inclined to admit the physiological discoveries of citizen philosophers with great hesitation. The fact, if real, is certainly curious, and may lead to important conclusions; and we therefore recommend an investigation of its truth to our botanical readers.