THE AMERICAN 



MONTHLY 



MICROSCOPICAL JOURNAL 



VOL. XVI. 



APRIL, 1895. 



No. 4. 



/KNTHCRIDIA , 



■f,P/IRAPHrsES 



Antheridia of a Moss. 



By R. H. ward, M. D., 



TROY, N. Y. 



( From Note book A, of the American Postal Microscopical Club.) 



WITH FRONTISPIECE. 



This longitudinal section (Fig. 1) through the summit 

 of the Hair-cap moss {Polytrichu7n) gives a clear display 

 of the male reproductive system or sterile "inflorescence" 

 of the mosses. Though not a flower, in any sense, it is 

 doubly interesting from its rough resemblance to one 



in general aspect, 

 and its still great- 

 er resemblance to a 

 head of flowers like 

 an aster or solidago. 

 The essential por- 

 tion consists of the 

 several slightly 

 stalked {pedicilled) 

 cylinders on the dis- 

 coid summit of the 

 stem. These, which produce the male reproductive bod- 

 ies (atitherozoids), are well called antheridia from their 

 analogy to the anthers of a flower. 



The morphological character of the antheridia is not 

 as obvious or as uniform as that of the (corresponding) 

 stamens in the higher plants. This might be expected 



