2] 



THE VARIOUS GROUPS OF PLANTS 53 



Fig. 14. — Some Mosses (Musci). A, gametophyte of a Moss, showing a group 

 of male and female organs at the top ( < 7); B, a typical species of Spliaf;nii>n, 

 the Bog-mosses ( about 4); C, Atrichum {Catharinea), showing at the base the 

 masses of rhizoids and protonemal filaments from which grow the leafy gameto- 

 phtyes bearing, above, the sporophytes ( ■; 2). 



into the main, leafy gametophytes ; thus is the hfe-cycle completed. 

 Mosses can also propagate by gemmae and multiply by fragmenta- 

 tion, and they are remarkable for their power to remain alive after 

 long periods of desiccation. Their nutrition is again primarily by 

 photosynthesis, starch being stored, although some appear to be 

 partially saprophytic. 



