MUSCI AND HEPATICAE 36, 



is a club-shaped body, seated on a short massive stalk, and it j^ 

 frequently large enough to be seen by the naked eye. It consists of a 

 peripheral wall of tabular cells, covering a mass of cubical spermato- 

 cytes (vi.). It bursts when ripe at the distal end (viii. j. There is often a 

 special cap of mucilaginous cells which produce and control the pore 

 of exit. The spermatozoids can then escape in a thin stream, 

 embedded in mucilage from which they soon escape. In cases where 



Fig. 304. 

 i.-v. Stages in development of the archegonium of Funaria, after Canipb<-ll ( • 4<><il. 

 vi. Mature archegonium of Andicaea, after Kiihn ( ■ J30). i. shows n)vrr ««-ll 

 separated from central-cell (shaded.) ii. iii. cover-cell (.r) undergoing seKnientatiou 

 as an initial cell, giving rise to three rows of lateral and one of basal segnn-nts : thr 

 former constitute the " neck," thelatter arc the canal cells, i v. shows the ovum (<>: >. 

 ventral canal cell (v.c.c), and canal-cells {cc). V. shows the apex of the neck iH-fon- 

 rupture, with canal-cells (cc.) within. 



the perichaetial leaves face upwards, a shower of rain would brini^ 

 the rupture about, and the mucilaginous contents may be seen and 

 collected on a slide in a drop of water. The biciliatc s perm atozo ids 

 may then be observed in active movement (Fig. 303. vii.). 



The archegonhim is a flask-shaped body with a long neck (Fig. 304). 

 It is seated on a massive stalk, and it also arises from a single superficial 

 cell. When mature it consists of a peripheral wall, which in the lower 

 ventral portion is double, but the neck consists of a single layer built 

 up of six row^of cells, as against four in the Pteridoplutn. The wall 



