BEITISH MOSSES. 



13 



the organs corresponding with the stamens the antheridia 

 or antherids. The archegone is a flask-shaped organ, 

 which ultimately produces a specialized cell, known as the 

 oosphere, at the bottom of the flask, the neck of which is 

 perforated by a canal. This organ is usually surrounded 

 by circles of leaves, often larger and almost always different 

 in form from the ordinary leaves of the Moss. The ordered 

 arrangement of these leaves produces something like a 

 flower, and is known as the perichaetium, i.e., the sur- 

 roundings of the couch. If the reader will turn to Figs. 

 1 and 2, and note the letters a r, they will indicate the 

 situation of the archegone before it gave rise to the 

 capsule. 



Fig. 7 will show an archegone, with the canal, c, and 

 the oosphere, o. 



The male organs are known as antherids. Fig. 8 

 shows an antherid, a long bag-like cell, surrounded by 

 filaments, sometimes club-shaped, called paraphyses. 

 These are usually associated in groups, and surrounded 

 by specialized leaves, often in the shape of a rosette, 

 and when (as sometimes) they are highly coloured 

 they present the aspect of small 

 but beautiful flowers. Fig. 3 exhibits 

 a male plant of one of our common 

 Mosses, the Polytrichum, terminat- 

 ing in the rosette-shaped flower of 

 a scarlet colour, composed of the 



antherids, the paraphyses, and the 



. ,. ' ml i v. a Fia.8. Antherid,*, 



specialized leaves. The large beds ^th Paraphyses, 



of these short stiff male plants of P- z >. Escaping 



Antnenzoids. 

 Polytrichum, which may often be seen After Berkeley. 





