178 



CHARACE& 



framewoik of the antherid. Each capitulum bears six smaller cells, 

 or secondary capitula ; and from each of these grow four long whip- 

 shaped filaments, bent into a number of coils and filling up the interior 

 of the globe. The manubrium, capitulum, secondary capitula, and 

 whip-shaped filaments, bear a resemblance to a many-thonged whip. 

 The number of these filaments in an antherid amounts to nearly 200, 

 and each filament is divided by transverse septa into from 100 to 200 

 small disc-shaped cells. The protoplasm in each of these antheridial 

 cells becomes gradually transformed into an antherozoid strongly re- 

 sembling the corresponding organ in Muscineae rather than in Thallo- 



FIG. 164. A, portion of branch otC.JragfZis', a, antherid ; 6", archegone; c, crown ; /3', /3", bracts 

 (x 50). B, a young antherid ; SK, young archegone (x 350). 'After Sachs.) 



phytes. It is a slender thread of protoplasm coiled spirally like a cork- 

 screw, somewhat thickened at rhe posterior end, and bearing at its 

 pointed anterior end two long fine cilia. The number of antherozoids 

 in an antherid is, as will be seen, from 20,000 to 40,000. When ripe, 

 the eight shields fall apart, and the antherozoids escape from their 

 mother-cells, and move about rapidly in the water by means of their 

 vibratile cilia. This appears generally to take place in the morning, the 

 antherozoids swarming about for some hours till the evening. 



