REPRODUCTION IN LIVERWORTS AND MOSSES. 275 



bodies, which they form in hollows of their surface. In the 

 common Cup-Moss, for example, (which is really a Lichen), 

 these little bodies may be seen in the form of a fine greenish 

 powder, in the hollows of the cups; and from these, when they 

 are removed from the parent plant, new individuals will spring. 



428. In the Liverworts we find a similar provision, as already 

 noticed (. 32); but here there is a distinct set of organs of 

 fructification raised above the general level of the plant, as shown 

 in Fig. 5. The little bodies, forming as it were the spokes of the 

 wheel, are cases containing spores or reproductive cells; and 

 these are scattered, when mature, by a set of elastic spiral fila- 

 ments which lie among them. When it begins to develope 

 itself, the spore does not altogether burst and emit the granules 

 it contains, as in the Algae ; but its outer coat only ruptures, and 

 a long tube projects from its interior, within which new cells are 

 seen to grow, taking their origin from the granules or minute 

 germs, which the spore contained. These cells gradually increase 

 into a leafy expansion, from the lower part of which root-fibres 

 proceed ; and this in time acquires the appearance of the original 

 plant, and forms its own organs of fructification. 



429. The Drgans of fructification in the Mosses (. 27) are 

 extremely beautiful and delicately formed ; the provision for the 

 development and dispersion of spores, which in themselves 

 resemble those of the Marchantia, being more complex than in 

 the Liverworts. The little urns, mounted upon long stalks, 

 which are peculiar to this group (. 27), are furnished with lids, 

 that drop off when the spores within them are mature ; these 

 spores having been developed around a central pillar termed the 

 columella. Around the mouth of the urn is a very beautiful 

 fringe, termed the peristome; the various forms of which aid the 

 Botanist in distinguishing the genera and species of Mosses. This 

 fringe is much influenced by moisture ; and its movements pro- 

 bably aid in the dispersion of the spores. The subsequent 

 changes which take place in the spore nearly correspond with 

 those described in the last section ; the principal difference being, 

 that a number of tubes are put forth instead of a single one. 

 Each of these tubes can be perceived to contain some of the little 



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