■^w^ttrt-^l 



22 



THE SPHAGNACEjE OR PEAT-MOSSES OF 



when he found that dehiscence took place after about an hour's 

 immersion ; he then placed in water also some antheridia, which 

 on rupturing charged the fluid with abundance of antherozoids, and 

 some of this he added to the other preparation. 



He found that the antherozoids did not seem to have any 

 tendency to direct themselves towards the entrance of the canal, 

 but reached it fortuitously, and then appeared to introduce them- 

 selves with difficulty; the cil;ated extremity which consists of an 

 amylaceous granule always goes first, and it is sometimes arrested 

 by the plasma in the canal, and then struggles to clear itself; this 

 accomplished, it moves on more briskly until it reaches the 

 germinative globule suspended in the fluid in the archegonial 

 cavity; on this it fixes itself, all movement ceases, and a direct 

 fusion of the two appears to take place. 



Only one archegonium develops into fruit, and after impregna- 

 tion the apex and canal become coloured red or yellow; the pedicel 

 then enlarges, for the fertilized germinal cell passes down into it 

 to become the fruit, and bears the now hollow ventral portion with 

 the shrivelled stylidium on its apex. This germinal cell is pyriform 

 and contains a large nucleus, and as soon as impregnation takes 

 place, active cell multiplication is set up, and the single cell 

 becomes an oblong body filled with slimy fluid and minute granules, 

 and the pedicel is no longer defined from the ventral part ; through 

 the soft pedicel the embryo fruit forces its way down, and so into 

 the interior of the fruit receptacle, which has become elongated 

 and obtusely conical. 



Next, the embedded pedicel of the embryo expands in width by 

 cell multiplication, and becomes a hemispherical protuberance 

 elevated above the dome-shaped receptacle. The cells lying at 

 the base of the pedicel alone continue to divide transversely, and 

 the pedicel itself becomes nearly spherical, and not being able to 

 penetrate farther downward, it with the cuticular and peripheral 

 layers covering it becomes elevated upward. During the rapid 

 extension of the lower part of the fruit, the inner cellular texture 

 of the lower portion of the archegone has disappeared, and the 

 rudimentary capsule has developed to a short cylinder, its outer coat 

 consisting of a single layer of very thin cells, which corresponds to 

 the calyptra, gradually stretches, becomes still thinner by the 

 swelling of the young capsule, until it bursts or tears into shreds ; 

 rapid cell multiplication goes on in the fruit, and a spherical capsule 



