1895.] MICROSCOPICAL JOURNAL. 99 



coid enlargement of the top of the stem, and mixed 

 with fine succulent hairs (paraphyses) which were form- 

 erly considered either abortive antheridia or abortive 

 leaves, but which seem more like typical trichomes 

 (hairs) of a distinct and well developed character. 



The outer portion of the cluster consists of a some- 

 what bud-like involucre {perigoriium) formed of whorls 

 of leaf-like bracts, which are efficient for the protec- 

 tion of the antheridia while developing, and for the 

 retention about them, when mature, of sufiicient moist- 

 ure to facilitate the escape and migration of the anthe- 

 rozoids. 



The whole arrangement is seen to present, under the 

 1- or 2-in. objective, a striking likeness to the section 

 of a flower, or of a composite head of flowers, and it is 

 sometimes called, for the sake of brevity, the flower, or 

 inflorescence, of the moss ; though always with a men- 

 tal protest against such an unfortunate and confusing 

 misuse of those terms. 



Each antheridium consists of a sac-like wall formed of 

 a layer of tabular, chlorophyll-cells, as shown (XlOO) 

 from another moss {Funaria) in figure 2, which turn yel- 

 low, like nearly all true anthers, or red when ripe. With- 

 in this enclosing wall may be found numerous smaller, 

 spherical cells, which will finally burst out in a mucilag- 

 inous mass from the top of the sack ; each sperm -cell (fig. 

 3, X 1000) containing a filiform, spirally coiled anther- 

 ozoid, shown after escape from its mother-cell in fig. 4. 



The antherozoids are evidently assisted by the pair of 

 cilia, at the thin anterior end, in moving freely through 

 the moisture often present in the spongy mass of clust- 

 ered leaves and hairs, to reach the flask-shaped female 

 organs {archegonia) and fertilize the contained germ-cell 

 [oosphere). Though representing in function the pollen 

 grains of a flower, they so strikingly resemble in general 

 9,ppearance, activity and use, the spermatozoids of many 



