326 GENERAL MORPHOLOGY OF PLANTS 



differences between such a simple one as is found in Rictia, 

 where the egg develops into a rounded mass of spores surrounded 

 by a single layer of sterile cells, and the very complicated capsule 

 (spore plant stage) of the higher mosses supported on a stalk. 

 The intermediate forms show intermediate steps in this speciali- 

 zation. The spore plant (or sporophyte) in all agrees, however, 

 in being dependent on the gamete plant for its nourishment, in 

 not possessing leaf-like outgrowths, and in the formation of a 

 capsule for the production of the spores. For these reasons the 

 liverworts and mosses together make up one of the great branches 

 of the plant kingdom, called the Bryophytes, or moss-like plants. 



495. * Formula for the life history of liverworts and 

 mosses. The asexual stage in the liverworts and mosses is the 

 capsule (with the stalk when present) or spore plant (sporophyte), 

 and alternating with the first generation, the gamete plant 

 (gametophyte). The formula may be represented thus 



/ anthendia sperm gamete x ... , 



Gametophyte C , / Fertilized egg 



N archegoma egg gamete / 



Sporophyte asexual spores Gametophyte, etc., which reduced 



hfmmpc 



G < S > FE S asp G., etc. 



* For reference. 



