468 



THE CANADIAN NATURALIST, 



[Dec. 



somewhat sausage-shaped, and usually intermixed with them are 

 numerous jointed threads termed paraphvses, whose use no doubt, 

 by the mucus they contain, is to keep moist and preserve the 

 vitality of the antheridia, for in the open discoid flower they are 

 most numerous, but in the closed gemmiform flower few or none 

 (fig. 10). The antheridial sac contains the Spermatozoids, 

 minute clavato-filiform bodies with two cilia, and coiled spirally, 

 which on the rupture of the antheridium move about with great 

 activity; they are most readily seen in the Polytricha (fig. 11). 



Fig. 10. Two Antheridia and Paraphyses of Polytrichum. 



The female or fertile flower, in a similar way, consists of leaves 

 forming a perigynium, which enclose the archegonia, corresponding 

 to the pistils of flowering plants ; and so the oval base of an 

 archegonium is named the germen, enclosing in its centre the 

 germinal cell, and the tapering upper part the stylidium (fig. 12). 



Fig. 11. Sperinatozoids. 



Fig. 12. Three Archegonia and 

 Paraphyses of Bryum. 



The inner leaves of the perigynium, as the fruit forms, become 

 enlarged into a sheath round the base of the fruit stalk, forming 

 what is called the perichastium, which is very distinct in 

 Hypnaceae. 



Of the archegonia in each flower, seldom more than one is 

 fertilized ; sometimes, however, four or five may be, and we have 



