The Position of Hepatics and Mosses 



Tittle, 



One pinnule from a leaf of 

 Ruta-muraria. 



Fern-prothallium (sexual generation) with 

 young sporophyte (asexual generation), 



In comparing hepat- 

 ics, mosses, and ferns 

 with a view to deter- 

 mining their relative 

 positions in the plant 

 kingdom one must be 

 careful to compare 

 homologous parts, gam- 

 etophyte with gameto- 

 phyte, sporophyte with 

 sporophyte. 



A study of the asexual generation, the sporophyte, (spore- 

 case, foot, and pedicel) of leafy-mosses, will show that they 

 have suggestions of the more complex structure found in the 

 asexual stage, (sporophyte), of the pteridophytes, a group 

 including ferns (filices), horse-tails (equisetums), and Christmas- 

 greens (lycopodiums), which possess tissue composed of tubular 

 cells (vascular bundles), set apart for the purpose of strengthening 

 the plant and of carrying liquids from one part to another. The 

 Pteridophytes have also true roots or underground organs with 

 a vascular tissue. 



69 



ftoots. 



Complete sporophyte Asplenium Ruta-muraria. 



