THE BRYOPHYTA 



135 



The female branches are, at 

 first, very small ; usually one such 

 branch is produced, springing 

 from the male stem some distance 

 below the rosette ; sometimes 

 more branches are produced. The 

 leaves converge together at the 

 top, forming a bud within which 

 the archegonia are contained (Fig. 

 62, A). They arise from the cells 

 of the growing-point, and the 

 apical cell among others is itself 

 used up to form an archegonium, 

 so that no further direct growth 

 of the vegetative axis is possible. 



The cell from which an arche- 

 gonium is to be formed first 

 divides by a transverse wall. 

 The further growth is by means 

 of the apical cell, which in this 

 case gives rise to four rows of 

 segments, three of which are 

 peripheral and form the wall of 

 the archegonium, while the 

 fourth row is central. From 

 the lowest cell of the central 

 row 3 the ovum and ventral canal- 

 cell (see Fig. 62, B) are pro- 

 duced ; the rest of the series 

 of central cells form the canal 

 of the neck. The external seg- 

 ments undergo further transverse 

 and vertical divisions ; the wall 



FIG 62. Funaria. A, longi- 

 tudinal section through 

 the apical bud of a female 

 shoot ; a, archegonia ; b, 

 leaves. Magnified 100. B, 

 a single archegonium ; ?', 

 the enlarged venter, with- 

 in which the ovum and 

 ventral canal-cell are seen ; 

 from n to m is the neck, 

 enclosing the neck-canal. 

 Magnified 550. G, unripe 

 spermatozoid in its mother- 

 cell, and mature spermato- 

 zoid with two cilia. Mag- 

 nified 800. (After Sachs). 



