ARRANGEMENT OF FLOWERLESS PLANTS. 33 



whose leaves and stems are quite distinct. Tell 

 me what you think must belong to the first 

 division." 



" The green slime we saw in the garden," said 

 Robert, " for even through the microscope it only 

 looked like a bundle of threads." 



" And perhaps the sea-weeds," said Mary, " for 

 some of them seem all stem, and some of them all 

 leaf, so that it would not be very easy to find out 

 a regular stem and leaf on the same plant." 



" And I am sure the lichens must belong to the 

 first division," said Henry, " for they are leafy or 

 leathery all over, lying flat on the place where 

 they grow. Mushrooms have stems, but then they 

 have no leaves, so I suppose they must come in 

 the same division." 



" You are right ; and having thus found out the 

 members of the first division, it follows, as a mat- 

 ter of course, that mosses and ferns come into the 

 second, for in all these plants leaf and stem are 

 perfectly distinct. In leaving these flowerless 

 plants we find the same thing occur, which we so 

 often noticed in rising from tribe to tribe of the 

 animal kingdom; I mean that the tribes blend 

 together in so gradual a manner, that we are sure 

 4. D 



