ANTENNARIEI. 



[ 47 ] 



ANTHER. 



2. A. semiovata, Berk and Br. Barren 

 filaments creeping, often united into an ir- 

 regular membrane. Fertile filaments erect, 

 generally slightly branched, sometimes sub- 

 dichotomous; pycnidia semiovate, sporanges 

 cm'ved, acuminated. Clothing leaves of 

 hastrcBa Filix-mas with dense matted felt. 

 Ann. Nat. Hist. 2 ser. vol. xiii. p. 468. See 

 Capnodium. 



Antennaria Icevigata, of which we give 



Fig. 23. 



Antennaria laevigata (highly magnified) . 



Corda's figure (fig. 23), is found upon the 

 bark of the birch in Germany. Diameter of 

 its spores about 5-2000". 



ANTENNARIEI.— A tribe of Physomy- 

 cetous Fungi, consisting of diffiise plants, 

 forming flocculent or byssoid patches upon 

 leaves or bark, or upon walls in cellars. The 

 many-spored large sporange sessile on the 

 sides of erect, or in the midst of radiating 

 filaments, at once distinguishes these plants 

 from the Mucorini, where the microscopic 

 sporanges are supported at the tips of simple 

 or branched filaments. 



SjTiopsis of British Genera. 



I. Antennaria. Sporange membranous, 

 at first closed, then open, borne on a persist- 

 ent radiating mycehum composed of septate 

 filaments. 



II. Pleuropyxis. Sporanges adnate to 

 the sides of simple, septate ascending fila- 

 ments, opening by a longitudinal slit. 



III. Pisomyxa. Sporange membranous, 

 ostiolate, innate, on a persistent, radiating 

 mycelium, composed of septate filaments. 



ANTHER.— The essential part of the 

 male or fertilizing organ of Flowering Plants, 

 supported on a longer or shorter stalk or 

 filament, and constituting with it the stamen. 

 The microscopic examination of anthers 

 turns in two distinct, both very interesting 

 directions, namely, study of the development 

 and characters of the pollen produced in the 

 anthers, and examination of the cellular 

 structure of the walls of the perfect anther. 

 For the former, see Pollen. 



Fig. 24. 



C ...4- 



- 1 



The walls of the anthers of almost all plants 

 exhibit deposits of a more or less fibrous cha- 

 racter, vaiying much in the patterns accord- 

 ing to which the fibres are placed, and the 

 extent to which they are developed; and 

 these are elegant microscopic objects. 



The anther is clothed with a very delicate 

 epidermis, sometimes provided wdth stomates; 

 this epidermis usually remains unaltered, but 

 in some cases {Lmpinus) the walls acquire 

 fibrous thickening. Be- 

 neath this epidermis ordi- 

 narily hes one or more 

 layers of cells which form 

 the spnal-fibrous tissue 

 (fig. 24). This may extend 

 all round the anther, or be Section of wall of 

 wanting at certain points, c!'ep" dSmal ceUs. 



especially over the con- E. Fibrous tissue. 



nective, before and behind ; Magnified 250 diams. 

 sometimes all the cellular tissue of the con- 

 nective itself assumes the same character 

 (with the exception of its vascular bundle). 



Purkinje has furnished a most extensive 

 notice of the conditions of these fibrous cells 

 in the diff'erent families of Flowering Plants. 

 The following plants are selected as aff'ording 

 considerable diversitv of forms : — 



a. Spiral fibres. Narcissus poeticus, Po- 

 pulus alba, Lonicera tatarica, Hyoscyamus 

 orientalis. Datura Stramonium, Cheiranthus 

 Cheiri (PI. 32. fig. I). 



b. Annular fibres. Iris florentina, Hya- 

 cinthus orientalis, Bunias orientalis, Chei- 

 ranthus Cheiri, Convallaria. 



c. Reticulated fibres. Fritillaria imperi- 

 alis (on the internal face), Tulipa Gesneriana 

 (ditto), Viola odorata (ditto), Saxifraga 

 umbrosa (PL 32. fig. 2). 



d. Fibres arched (founed on three sides 

 of the w'alls, the fourth being free). Nuphar 

 lutea, Bryonia dioica, Cynoglossum, Pulmo- 

 naria, Primula sinensis, Passijlora ccerulea, 

 Ligustrum vulgare, Cucurbita, Pyrus, Lupi- 

 nus (PI. 32. fig. 3). 



e. Fibres short and straight, pieces upon 

 the w alls standing vertically to the epidermis. 

 Arum, Calla cethiopica, Calceolaria, Del- 

 phinium, Anemone. 



f. Like d, but converging towards the 

 centre of the upper wall of the cell, some- 

 times forming a star. Corydalis lutea, Im- 

 patiens, Fumaria, Cactus (PI. 32. fig. 4), 

 Polygonum, Tropceolum mojus, Veronica 

 perfoliata, Polygala Chamcebuxus, Rubia 

 tinctorum, Armeria. 



g. Fibres vertical, very short, numerous 

 and close, like teeth on the walls. Grasses, 



