INTRODUCTION. x 



tively, a perichcetium, or when each leaf is taken separately, a 

 perichatial leaf. These flowers spring either from the extremity 

 of the stem, as in most of the upright growing Mosses, or 

 laterally and from the axils of the leaves, as in most of the 

 creeping kinds. 



Each male flower consists of an uncertain number of minute, 

 oblong bodies, of a reticulated texture, cylindrical, which are 

 considered to be the Anthers ; they are placed upon a short foot- 

 stalk, which may be termed the filament, and they are filled with 

 a pulpy, or somewhat granular pellucid substance, which, upon 

 placing the Anther in water, under a microscope, may be seen to 

 be discharged from the upper extremity. These Anthers empty 

 themselves spontaneously while attached to the plant, and remain 

 mere single-celled cases, or bags. This apparently pulpy sub- 

 stance is looked upon as the pollen, and is supposed, in a manner 

 not easily accounted for, to find its way to the pistils, however 

 distantly they may be situated. 



The female flower consists, in like manner, of an uncertain 

 number of supposed pistils, of a linear, or oblong form, at the 

 base swelling, and constituting the Germen, which is gradually 

 lengthened out into what is called the Style ; and the termination, 

 which is not unfrequently dilated, or open at the mouth, is termed 

 the Stigma. Both the Anthers and pistils are generally mixed 

 with a considerable number of minute jointed filaments, whose use 

 is not known, but which are called by Hedwig "fila succulenta" 

 These constitute the whole of what are called the flowers. 



There is something in the gradual enlargement of the base of 

 the pistil, or germen, which is very similar to the increase of the 

 pistil in phaenogomous plants ; but then it is followed by other 

 circumstances widely different. The base of one of the pistils 

 gradually swells more and more ; and, after a certain period, the 

 upper part of the style and stigma wither, but still remain. The 

 Germen is now seen, covered by a thin membrane ; which, as the 



