182 



PRACTICAL BOTANY. 



FIG. 108. A is a vertical 

 section through the top of 

 a female plant of Funa- 

 ria hygrometrica, showing 

 how the archegonia are 

 borne; B is an archego- 

 nium more highly magni- 

 fied. The antherozoids 

 seen in Fig. 107 pass down 

 through the neck, m, and 

 fertilize the egg cell, which 

 is seen centrally located 

 at 6 ; C is the neck of the 

 archegonium more highly 

 magnified. (After Goe- 

 bel.) 



leading from its top down to the 

 oosphere or egg cell in the central 

 portion of the archegonium. (See 

 Fig. 108.) 



6. Study the matured fruit. 

 After the oosphere is fertilized, it 

 is raised on a long, slender stalk, 

 or seta. Draw a capsule with the 

 calyptra still on and one from which 

 it has been removed. Remove the 

 operculum, or lid, and draw it as 

 seen from above. Beneath the 

 operculurn the mouth of the spo- 

 rangium, or urn, is covered with a 

 delicate diaphragm surrounded by 

 a peristome or fringe of teeth. 

 With a razor cut off the diaphragm 

 and peristome, place them top side 

 up on a dry slide, and, while exam- 

 ining under low power, let some 

 one breathe gently on them. The 

 fringe of teeth is hygrometric, i.e., 

 when moisture touches it, it exe- 

 cutes movements. These motions 

 are believed to be a means for 

 scattering the spores from the urn. 

 Examine some of the spores. 



References for Reading. Parker's " Elementary Biology," pp. 332- 

 343; Goebel's "Classification of Plants," pp. 163-188; Vines' "Text- 

 Book of Botany," pp. 354-371 ; Carpenter's " The Microscope," pp. 

 594-599 ; Strasburger and Hillhouse's " Practical Botany," pp. 190- 

 195, 277-286; Bower's "Practical Botany," pp. 341-359; Arthur, 

 Barnes, and Coulter's "Plant Dissection," pp. 84-102; Lesquereux 

 and James' " Mosses of North America " ; Strasburger, Noll, Schenck, 

 and Schimper's "Lehrbuch der Botanik," pp. 335-349. 



