STRUCTURE.] SCALE MOSSES. 115 



chantiaceae), differ much from each other in their organs of 

 reproduction, while they have a striking resemblance in their 

 vegetation. This latter, which bears the name of frond or 

 thalluSj is either a leafy branched tuft, as in Urn Mosses, 

 with the cellular tissue particularly large, and the leaves 

 frequently furnished with lobes, and appendages at the base, 

 called stipule or amphigastria ; or it is a flat lobed mass of 

 green vegetable matter lying upon the ground. 



In Jungermannia, that part which is most obviously con- 

 nected with the reproduction of the plant, and which bears 

 an indisputable analogy to the theca of Mosses, is a valvular 

 brown case, called the capsule or conceptacle (sporangium or 

 sporocarpium), elevated upon a white cellular tender seta, 

 and originating in a hollow sheath or perichsetium arising 

 among the leaves. This conceptacle contains a number of 

 loose spiral fibres (slaters) , inclosed in membranous cases, 

 among which sporules lie intermixed : when fully ripe, the 

 membranous case usually disappears, the spiral fibres, which 

 are powerfully hygrometric, uncurl, and the sporules are 

 dispersed. When young, the conceptacle is inclosed in a 

 membranous bag (epigonium), which it ruptures when it 

 elongates, but which it does not carry upwards upon its 

 point, as Mosses carry their calyptra. This part, never- 

 theless, bears the latter name. 



Besides the conceptacles of Jungermannia, there are two 

 other parts which are thought to be also intended for the 

 purpose of reproduction : of these, one consists of spherical 

 bodies, scattered over the surface of some parts of the frond, 

 and containing a granular substance ; the other is a hollow 

 pouch, formed out of the two coats of a flat frond, and pro- 

 ducing from its inside, which is the centre of the frond, 

 numerous granulated round bodies which are discharged 

 through the funnel-shaped apex of the pouch. 



There are also other bodies situated in the axillae of the 

 perichaetial leaves, called anthers (spermatocystidia, antheridia, 

 pollinaria, staminidia}, which " are externally composed of an 

 extremely thin, pellucid, diaphanous membrane ; within they 

 are filled with a fluid, and mixed with a very minute granu- 

 lated substance, generally of an olivaceous or greyish colour : 



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