228 ORGANOGRAPHY. BOOK I. 



at the base, called stipulcR or amphigastria ; or a sinuous flat 

 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 {sporocarpium), 

 elevated upon a white cellular tender seta, and originating 

 from a hollow sheath or perichsetium arising among the leaves. 

 This conceptacle contains a number of loose spiral fibres 

 (elaters), enclosed in membranous cases, among which sporules 

 lie intermixed : when fully ripe, the membranous case usually 

 disappears, the spiral fibres, which are powerfully hygro- 

 metic, uncurl, and the sporules are dispersed. When yomig, 

 the conceptacle is enclosed in a membranous bag, which it 

 ruptures when it elongates, but which it does not carry 

 upwards upon its point, as mosses carry their calyptra. This 

 part, nevertheless, 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 produc- 

 ino- from its inside, which is the centre of the frond, numerous 

 aranulated round bodies which are discharged through the 

 funnel-shaped apex of the pouch. 



There are also other bodies situated in the axillae of the 

 perichffitial leaves, called anthers (or spermatoajstidia, by 

 Hedwig, and staminidia, by Agardh), which "are externally 

 composed of an extremely thin, pellucid, diaphanous mem- 

 brane," — " within they are filled with a fluid, and mixed 

 with a very minute granulated substance, generally of an 

 ohvaceous or greyish colour: this, when the anther has 

 arrived at a state of maturity, escapes through an irregularly 

 shaped opening, which bursts at the extremity." Von Mar- 

 tins suspects them to be analogous to the sporangia of Azolla. 

 In Monoclea and Targionia organs very analogous to those 

 of Jungermannia are formed for reproduction. 



In Marchantia the frond is a lobed flat green substance, 



