Biological Papers. 287 



Order IV. BRYALES : The True Mosses. 



Suborder B. PLEUROCARPI: Capsules Axillary. 

 Family 18. Hypnace^ : Hypnum Family. 



128. Amblystegium kochii Schimp. C. K. (Husnot, Muscologia 



Gallica, p. 362.) 



129. Campylium hispidulum (Brid.) Mitten. On the ground in 



damp woods, E. K. ; frequent. (Rau, W. B., i, 61.) 



130. Campylium chrysophyllum (Brid.). On the ground, decaying 



trunks of trees, etc., S. E. K. {Ibid., 114.) 



131. Harpidium aduncum (Hedw.), var. Damp ground. Saline 



county. {Ibid., 173.) 



132. Hypnum curvifolium Hedw, Decayed and decaying logs in 



shady woods, Shawnee county. Abundant in spots. (S) 



Phylum II. PTERIDOPHYTA. 



Fernworis and Filicoid Plants. 



Vascular plants, aerial, terrestrial, rarely aquatic, living two or more 

 well-marked phases or conditions of life, namely : 



(a) A pteral or sporophoral stage, conspicuous and long-lived, called 

 sporophyte, in which the plants have erect annual stems and sporophores 

 from perennial horizontal stems or rootstocks, all with well-developed fibro- 

 vascular tissues. They bear, in specially constructed multicellular recep- 

 tacles called sporangia, vast numbers of asexual spores, which may be 

 of two kinds: (a) minute and all alike, in which case the plants are called 

 homosporous ; or (b) of two sizes, called microspores and megaspores, or 

 androspores and gynospores, in which case the plants are called hetero- 

 sporous. These nonsexual spores may, under certain favorable conditions, 

 germinate and produce : 



(6) A prothallial, or oophoral stage, quasi- sexual, short-lived, and in- 

 conspicuous, called gametophyte, on which are developed the reproductive 

 bodies, sometimes on the same and again on separate plants. This is a 

 nonvascular thalloid growth, whose sole purpose in life seems to be the pro- 

 duction of oospores, minute bodies containing the germ of a future plant 

 within and a hard cell wall or protecting case of cellulose without, and re- 

 quiring that a long period of apparent rest be given to it before conditions 

 are favorable for its germination. During this period the plant life within 

 the cell is capable of withstanding extreme conditions of temperature and 

 desiccation that would be fatal to active life. Indeed, it is often even 

 necessary that the oospore should pass through extreme vicissitudes before 

 it will germinate. 



(c) An oosporal stage, which is after all really the first stage in the life 

 of a filicoid, and is just as essential as the two forms under consideration, 

 the pteral being the second or principal stage, and the prothallial stage 

 the final. 



From the microspores are developed antheridial prothallia, bearing on 

 the under or ventral surface antherids only; from the megaspores are de- 

 veloped archegoniate prothallia, which bear also on their under surface small 

 sacs, each containing an archegonial cell or oosphere (ovum), ready to be 

 impregnated by an antherozoid. 



