14 THE MICROSCOPICAL NEWS. 
the economy in Mosses, occurring in most forms in large numbers. 
at the base of the stem, and often clothing it completely with a 
dense reddish brown felt. 
They are only distinguished from the protonema by the absence 
of chlorophyll, and by their tendency to grow downwards, and like 
it they are capable of forming new leafy stems. 
They arise as tubular protuberances from the superficial cells 
of the stem, elongate by apical growth, and are segmented by 
oblique septa, and are capable of developing single branches as a 
protonema growing upwards and containing chlorophyll. 
The cells contain a considerable quantity of protoplasm and 
drops of oil. 
Many Mosses are met with which do not produce fruit or spores, 
yet the continuation of their existence is singularly cared for; the 
vegetative reproduction of Mosses being more copious and varied 
than is the case in any other section of the vegetable kingdom. 
In the production of a new leaf-bearing stem the peculiarity is 
presented that it is always preceded by the formation of a proto- 
nema; the only exceptions being the few cases in which leaf-buds 
become detached and commence immediately to grow. 
The most important point to be noticed is that both the proto- 
nema which proceeds from the spore, and the leafy stems which 
spring from it, are capable of reproduction of different kinds, and 
the original protonema may produce upon its branches a smaller 
or larger number of leafy stems in succession or simultaneously. 
Sometimes the individual cells become sphericial in form and sepa- 
rate, acquiring thicker walls, and remaining for a time inactive, as in 
funarta hygrometrica, forming at a later period protonemal filaments, 
Next in importance to spores in the scale of reproduction may 
be placed Gemme, stalked fusiform, lenticular or cellular bodies, 
occurring in Aulacomnium androgynum, at the summit of a leafless. 
elongation of the leafy stem (Pseudopodium) in Zetraphis pellucida, 
they are enveloped by an elegant cup composed of several leaves, 
out of which they fall (Fig. 13). A gemma giving rise to a flat 
protonema B. 
In Ulota phyllantha, reproductive cells similar to gemmz occur 
at the apex of the leaves (Fig. 14) and they also occur in Grimmia 
trichophylla. 
Some species of Phascum and Pottia persist perennially by 
means of their root-hairs ; the plants disappearing completely from 
the surface of the ground from the time that the spores become 
ripe till the next autumn, when the root-hairs again produce a new 
protonema, and upon this new stems arise. 
According to Schimper, similar outgrowths occur also in the 
felted protonema of Polytrichum nanum and Polytrichum aloides, 
and on that of Schistostega osmundacea. 
