192 



MOSSES AND FERNS 



CHAP. 



developed. In regard to the development of the leafy axis, or 

 gametophore, therefore, Funaria offers a very marked contrast 

 to Fontinalis or Sphagnum^ where the gametophore reaches such 

 a large size and has practically unlimited growth. 



The young archegonia are quite colourless, and the details 



Fig. 92. — Longitudinal section through the apex of a male plant oi F. hygrometj-ica, X300 ; L, leaf; 



c5, antheridia ; /, paraphj'ses. 



of their structure may be made out without difficulty. The first 

 division separates a basal cell from a terminal cell, which is the 

 mother cell of the archegonium. In the latter three walls now 

 arise, as in the Hepaticae and Andrecea, but in Funaria these do 

 not all reach to the basal wall, but intersect at some distance above 

 it, so that they enclose a tetrahedral cell, pointed below instead 



