SPECIAL MORPHOLOGY : LIVERWORTS. 



171 



reports now in preparation by Gottsclie on the history of their develop- 

 ment. Bischoff* has furnished us with beautiful analyses, enriched by 

 his admirable powers of delineation, but unaccompanied by any history 

 of development, and constantly interspersed with inapplicable compari- 

 sons. 



B. The blossoms enclose the first germs of the fruit (germina), 

 intermixed with the so-called sap-filaments (Saftfaden, the para- 

 physes). They consist of an envelope (calyptra), and a nucleus ; 

 the upper end of the former is of variable length, directed upwards, 

 and often terminates in a funnel -like expansion. 



By way of illustration I subjoin a diagram of the germs of the fruit of 

 Marchantia polymorpha (fig. 129.). Gottsche has made a step in ad- 



129 



vance of other observers in his investigations into the origin of the 

 structure : according to him it seems certain that the nucleus becomes 

 subsequently developed into the investment or case, but the "how" is 

 by no means perfectly clear in this process. At first it appears to be a 

 simple cell, which afterwards passes over into a small ovate body of cel- 

 lular tissue. 



C. On its further development, the envelope is gradually torn 

 open, and the sporocarp, now becoming fully formed, emerges from 

 it. In Anthoceros alone it appears raised like a little cap, from 

 separating below the point. In the Ricciece it remains closed, as 

 the nucleus does not become at all elongated in its formation. In 

 the nucleus itself we can only distinguish two portions of cellular 



* Bischoff, Bennerkungen uber die Lebermoose, &c , in N. A. L. C. vol. xvii. pt. ii. 

 p. 909. (1835). 



129 Marchantia polymorpha. A, A part of the plant. a, Flat procumbent stem, 

 fc, Thinner erect part of the same, c, Lobed expansion of the stem, which bears upon 

 its lower surface the sporocarps (rf), surrounded by foliaceous organs. B, The lobed 

 expansion of the stem bearing the sporocarps, seen from above : the slit in the two 

 upper lobes corresponds to the attachment of the stem (&) of the former figure. C is 

 the germen, fully developed. At a we see the nucleus already appears as one single 

 large cell in the interior; at c is the so-called style; at b the so-called stigma. D : a, the 

 so-called elar, from the ripe sporocarp ; b, the spores. 



