THE BRYOPHYTA 127 



remote from the Vascular Cryptogams ; this is our 

 reason for taking them after Pellia. Their greater 

 complexity extends to both generations ; the higher 

 development of the oophyte removes all obvious resem- 

 blance to the prothallus of a Fern, while the sporophyte, 

 though a complicated structure, is still only a fruit, and 

 in no way approaches the asexual generation of the 

 higher Cryptogams. The Mosses, unlike Pellia, do not 

 have their vegetative organs in the form of an un- 

 difterentiated thallus, but possess a perfectly distinct 

 stem bearing spirally arranged leaves. In fact, the 

 external characters of a Moss plant are essentially similar 

 to those of vascular plants, but in the Mosses leaf and 

 stem belong to the sexual generation, while in the higher 

 plants they form part of the sporophyte. 



The special Moss (Funaria) on which our description 

 is based, is a very common one, and usually grows on 

 the ground, sometimes occurring on walls also, where, 

 however, it is less abundant than some other kinds. It 

 comes up in great quantities in places where there has been 

 a fire. This Moss grows in close tufts of a bright green 

 colour ; if we separate out a single plant we find that 

 the slender stem is erect, reaching perhaps half an inch 

 in height, and densely clothed with small simple leaves. 

 The lower part, where the plant is kept from the light 

 by the crowding of its fellows, is brown, the leaves here 

 having lost their colour. The upper free part of the 

 stem bears the bright green living leaves, and terminates 

 in a bud. The stem is branched, but not very abundantly, 

 the branches, like the main stem, growing in a vertical 

 direction. At the base of the plant we find a number of 

 absorptive filaments or rhizoids, but there is no real root, 

 an organ which does not exist in any of the Bryophyta. 



