MOSSES 29 



slight puff of smoke. Plate III. fig. 1 represents 

 a collection of spores, and some idea may be 

 obtained of tbeir extreme minuteness from the 

 fact, that, as thus drawn, they are fifty-one times 

 larger than the originals. 



While speaking of the spore a few words may 

 be added as to the broad general distinction be- 

 tween the two divisions which botanists make of 

 the members of the vegetable kingdom namely, 

 the so-called " flowerless plants " (cryptogams) 

 on the one hand, to which the mosses and liver- 

 worts, among many others, belong ; and what are 

 popularly known as " flowering plants " (phane- 

 rogams), such as the common plants of our 

 meadows and gardens, on the other. In the 

 former case fresh individuals are produced from 

 spores (each of which consists of a single cell), 

 while the latter spring from seeds, which are 

 multicellular, or built up of many separate cells. 



Each individual spore is provided with two 

 extremely delicate coverings or membranes, an 

 outer and an inner one ; and when we consider 

 the actual size of these tiny specks it is almost 

 impossible to believe that there can be so much 

 detail in such a very restricted space, so true 

 is it that the infinitely small in Nature is quite 

 as wonderful in its way as the infinitely great. 



Let us suppose that one of these spores has 

 fallen to the ground under conditions favourable 

 to its growth ; what takes place ? Well, in a short 



