148 



.THE SEXUAL ORGANS OF FLOWERLESS PLANTS. 



would remark that a kind of conjugation has heen noticed in the Confervse, or lowest 

 members of the class (Fig. 302), from which the spores are believed to result. These 

 spores are endowed with the faculty of motion within the cell, and more particularly 

 soon after their extrusion, as mentioned at page 4, Fig. 2. 

 In closing this account of the structure in flowerless 

 plants, we would remark that a great multitude of terms 

 have been invented to describe certain minute peculiarities 

 in reference to the seeds or sporules, and the cases or 

 ovaries in which they were developed ; but as they would 

 occupy much space, and be tedious to readers of all classes, 

 we omit further mention of them. In reference to the 

 sexual organs of the whole class, it must still be admitted 

 that the whole question is mb judice, and that we can 

 only affirm that, whilst such plants reproduce themselves 

 with the most astonishing rapidity (a rapidity which seems 

 to be in the inverse ratio of their organization), distinct 

 sdxes either do not exist, or are possessed of forms as yet 

 unrecognised. Lastly, cellular tissue, and that alone, is 

 the form of organization of all except the highest divi- 

 sions ; but the cells are very varied in figure, size, and 

 arrangement, and are commonly coloured green or red, as 

 in the Confervas and Sea- weeds ; or are resplendently 

 coloured, as in many Fungi. They are not the less beau- 

 tiful and interesting because their structure has a simple 

 basis ; but, on the contrary, evidence, in a remarkable degree, the power and wisdom of 

 the Creator in the infinitely varied and beautiful arrangements cf so simple an object. 



Fig. 302. Confervas, with 

 spores lying within cells, 

 which have undergone the 

 process of conjugation, at 1 . 



