The Microscope. 133 



from one another. " The facility of these various modes of 

 vegetative multiplication gives rise to the tufted or csespitose 

 habit of many species." 



The most important, however, is the sexual reproduction, 

 ■or that from spores. The life-history of a typical moss originat- 

 ing from a spore may be briefly told as follows : The spores, 

 which are produced in vast numbers in the sporangia or cap- 

 sules, are scattered by various agencies ; those which fall in 

 favorable situations germinate and give rise to new individuals. 

 " In the germination of the spore, the exospore (the outer coat- 

 ing of the spore) is ruptured by the swelling of the endospore 

 {the inner spore-coat) which protrudes as a tubular filament. 

 This filament elongates by the continued growth of an apical 

 ■cell ; partitions form at short intervals, and the threads branch 

 freely, giving rise to a green conferva-like mass called the pro- 

 toneme or protonema. In the Sphagnacese, however, the pro- 

 •toneme is a flattened mass, somewhat like the plant-body of the 

 lower liverworts." After a period of vegetation, small buds arise 

 upon the protonema which develop into leafy stems. 



The protonema usually disappears entirely after the formation 

 ■of the leaf buds, but in some cases (especially in the Phascacex) 

 it remains vigorous even after the formation of the spore-case. 

 The leafy stems which arise from the protonema produce num- 

 erous root-hairs or rhizoides at the lower part, while towards or 

 .at the summit a kind of inflorescence is developed which con- 

 tains the sexual organs. (In some genera the organs of fructi- 

 fication are developed at the apex of the stem, in others at some 

 distance below. This forms the basis of a separation of the 

 mosses into two divisions ; the Acrocarpi, in which the fructifi- 

 cation is terminal, and the Pleurocarpi, in which it is lateral). 

 This inflorescence consists usually of crowded and somewhat 

 modified leaves, or leaf-like bodies, constituting the perichMe or 

 perianth, within which the reproductive organs are formed. It 

 is often rosette-like in shape, and, particularly in the male flower 

 ■often reddish in color, bearing a strong resemblance to the bracts 

 ■or even the calyx of some flowering plants. 



The male organs are termed antherids or antheridia; the 

 female organs archegones or archegonia. Sometimes they are 

 both found in the same inflorescense, forming a " hermaphrodite 

 flower," Sometimes they occur in different flowers on the same 



