Chlorophylless Plants 139 



the sperm cell at the time of fertilization. This crown 

 is composed of five cells in Chara ; of ten cells in Nitella. 

 It is deciduous in Chara; it is persistent in Nitella. 



The stoneworts, unlike many other algse, are wonder- 

 fully constant in their localities and distribution, and 

 regular in their season of fruiting. They cover the 

 same hard bottoms with the same sort of gray-green 

 meadows, year after year, and although little eaten by 

 aquatic animals, they contribute important shelter for 

 them, and they furnish admirable support for many 

 lesser epiphytes. 



CHLOROPHYLLESS WATER PLANTS, BACTERIA 



AND FUNGI 



Nature's great agencies for the dissolution of dead 

 organic materials, in water as on land, are the plants 

 that lack chlorophyl. They mostly reproduce by 

 means of spores that are excessively minute and abund- 

 ant, and that are distributed by wind or water every- 

 where; consequently they are the most ubiquitous of 

 organisms. They consume oxygen and give off carbon 

 dioxide as do the animals, and having no means of 

 obtaining carbon from the air, must get it from car- 

 bonaceous organic products — usually from some carbo- 

 hydrate, like sugar, starch, or cellulose. Some of them 

 can utilize the nitrogen supply of the atmosphere but 

 most of them must get nitrogen also from the decompo- 

 sition products of pre-existing proteins. Many of them 

 produce active ferments, which expedite enormously the 

 dissolution of the bodies of dead plants and animals. 

 Some bacteria live without free oxygen. 



It follows from the nature of their foods, that we find 

 these chlorophylless plants abounding where there is the 

 best supply of organic food stuffs. Stagnant pools 

 filled with organic remains, and sewers laden with the 



