PLANT-LIFEGENERATION. 245 



ion. This is the greatest node in the vegetal 

 kingdom, often called the widest chasm in it 

 by botanists, and it lies between the Mosses 

 (Bryophytes) and the Ferns (Pterido- 

 phytes). In the Formative Process it is the 

 transition to the leaf, stem and root of the 

 Plant which have not yet been differentiated 

 in the previous forms Algag, Fungi, Mosses. 

 But more specially an inner vascular system 

 appears for the purpose of distributing food 

 and fluids through the organism all of which 

 means a great change in the Assinri^trve 

 Process. In the Generative Process there is 

 also a considerable advance, as we see in the 

 fern-leaf which bears the spores, the latter re- 

 peating the embryology of the thallus and the 

 moss in its development. Though occurring 

 far down among the less showy, because 

 flowerless, crytogams (now a rejected title in 

 botany) this is the largest leap in the Plant- 

 world proper, though probably the gap will 

 be lessened by fresh discoveries. 



For the sake of a deeper synthesis of liv- 

 ing Nature we may compare the present di- 

 vision of Plants into non-vascular and vas- 

 cular with division of animals into non- 

 vertebrates and vertebrates. The corres- 

 pondence is striking, and has been repeatedly 

 noted, while the attempts at bridging the 

 chasm have been various and are still going 



