CRYPTOGAMS 169 



(Fig. 345). Still less like Flowering Plants, but closely 

 allied to the Ferns, stand the Mosses and Liverworts 

 (Figs. 340, 334). In the groups named found at what 

 we speak of as the upper end of the cryptogamic series 

 the stem-and-leaf type of structure prevails. In the lower 

 groups a contrast in this respect will be noted. 



406. Going below the Liverworts i.e. away from the 

 Phanerogams we come to the Algae (Seaweeds and the 

 like, Figs. 291, 298), between which and the Liverworts 

 the similarity is not marked. The Algse include all green 

 (chlorophyllous) plants below the Liverworts, down to the 

 smallest and simplest (Fig. 282). Along with them, and 

 often resembling them in many respects, are the Fungi, of 

 which ordinary molds and toadstools are examples. Fungi 

 lack chlorophyll. 



407. In the Algse and Fungi the plant body is not 

 distinguished as in Flowering Plants and higher Crypto- 

 gams into axis or stem, and leaves. It is a simpler 

 structure, and is termed a thallus. In the simplest 

 Cryptogams the thallus is the single cell constituting 

 the individual ; in higher forms it becomes a filament, 

 membrane, or solid mass. Algse and Fungi together are 

 termed Thallophytes. 



408. The Algse fall into four grand divisions, conven- 

 iently distinguished in most cases by the color. In the 

 lowest group the green due to chlorophyll is more or less 

 modified by the presence of a blue pigment ; in the second 

 group the chlorophyll gives its true hue; in the third, 

 green is masked by brown ; and in the fourth, a red pig- 

 ment is usually present to obscure the green more or less 

 effectually. The description of typical Cryptogams will 

 begin with the simplest Algae. 



Throughout the present chapter merely the structures 

 and processes most commonly found in the groups selected 

 will be described. Let it be understood that a full 

 account of even the few forms brought forward would 

 involve many qualifying additions to the general state- 

 ments now made. 



