SPORES AND THALLIDIA. 



15 



The last division of plants wherein the spores are formed deep down in a tissue 

 is that of the Muscineee, which include Mosses and Liverworts. In these plants the 

 spore-producing generation consists of a cellular body, which has arisen from the 

 fruit, is usually seated on a stalk, and in shape is cylindrical, pyriform, or more or 

 less spherical (c/. figs. 191 ^' *■ ^' ^' ^^). We must here remark, by the way, that botanists 

 used formerly to look upon this sporogenous generation of the Moss erroneously 



Fig. 191. — Mosses. 



1 Polytrichum commune, the sporogonium to the left concealed by the cap, the sporogonium to the right exposed. 2 The same 

 Mos« in an earlier stage of development. 3 Sporogonium of Polytrichum commune with its lid. ^ The same after the lid 

 has fallen off. « Bryum ccespiticium. 6 Sporogonium of the same Moss with its cap. ? Tlie same without the cap, but 

 with the lid still on. 8 The same after removal of the lid, showing the teeth (peristome), s A piece of the peristome. 

 10 Antheridia, Archegonia, and Paraphyses of Bnjum cmspiticium. " Hylocomium splendens. 12 Sporogomum of 

 Hylocomium splendens. is Andrcea riipestris with burst sporogonium. " Sphagnum cijmUfolium, its spherical sporogonia 

 still covered by their lids in the left-hand specimen, i« A single sporogonium of the same Moss. 1, 2, =, ", " natural 

 size ; ^, *, «, ?, s, 12, 13_ is x 5; 9, i" X 150. 



as the fruit itself. The only structure rightly to be considered as the Moss-fruit is 

 that in which the embryo is produced as a result of fertilization. If afterwards a 

 new generation springs up from the embryo which has been formed in the interior 

 of the fruit, this generation cannot any longer be described as a fruit even in cases 



