BKYOPIIYTES 



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63. The antheridium.— The male organ of the Bryophytes 

 is called an antheridium, just as among Thallophytes, but 

 it has a very diHerent structure. In general among the 





Fig. 83. Sex organs of a common moss {Funaria): the gronp to the right represents 

 an antheridium {A) discharging from its apex a mass of sperm mother cells (a), a 

 single mother cell with its sperm (6), and a single sperm (c), showing body and 

 two cilia; the gronp to the left represents an archegonial cluster at summit of 

 stem (.1), showing archeu^onia (a), and paraphyses and leaf sections ib), and also a 

 single archegonium \B), with venter (b) containing egg and ventral canal cell, and 

 neck Ui) containing the disorganizing axial row (neck canal cells).— After Sachs. 



Thallophytes it is a single cell (mother cell), and may be 

 called a simple antheridium, but in the Bryophytes it is a 

 many-celled organ, and may be regarded as a compound 

 antheridium. It is usually a stalked, club-shaped, or oval to 



