308 
In order to minutely examine the antheridia and archegonia, 
they should be denuded of the perigonal leaves as closely as 
possible by means of a pair of a tweezers; they may then be 
laid on a glass slide with a drop of water and be finely 
divided with a sharp knife, they should afterwards be spread 
out a little with a needle point and be covered with a thin 
covering class. They should first be examined with a half- 
inch objective, and again with an eighth of an inch objective. 
The archegonia never develope into fruit unless they are in 
the neighbourhood of antheridia, any botanist paying 
attention to the growth of mosses will be able to produce 
instances to prove that dioicous mosses (mosses that have the 
male and female inflorescence on separate plants), im whose 
neighbourhood no male plants of the same species occur, 
produce perfect archegonia, but never fruit. Fertilization 
must take place before fruit can be developed. The contents 
of the antheridia being probably of vital importance to the 
commencement of growth of the germen in the archegonia, 
they become interesting objects for imvestigation with the 
microscope. When thus examined it is observed that as the 
antheridia become ripe they open at the upper extremity, and 
from thence flows a granular substance composed of 
innumerable cells. If one of these cells is closely examined, 
an antherozoid will be observed coiled up in its centre; each 
of the innumerable cells contain each an antherozoid, these 
become free in a short time and roll about the field of vision 
by means of cilia, sometimes for three or four hwurs. Similar 
moving bodies may be observed in the paraphyses. 
Unger, Pritchard, Griffiths, Mitten, Hofmeister, and others 
have borne testimony in their several works to this singular 
phenomenon. Hofmeister, in his work on the Higher Crypto- 
gams, p. 156, says: “I have not succeeded in finding sperma- 
tozoa (antherozoids) in the central cell of the archegonium of 
mosses, near the germinal vesicle as I have in ferns. I have, 
however, seen in Funaria, a moving spermatozoon, which has 
penetrated through the third part of the length of the neck 
of an archegonium which was ready for impregnation.” 
When the archegonium has been fertilised, the interior 
seed-vessel rapidly advances in growth, and the young seta, 
or fruit stalk, may be seen to be developed at the base, its 
summit gradually forcing the seed-vessel upwards. As the 
young capsule rises, the strain on the outer coating of the 
archegonium is so great as to rupture it transversely, the 
upper part adhering to the young capsule in its ascension, and 
forming the beautiful object known as the veil or calyptra 
which adorns the ripe capsule. 
In thus briefly glancing at their life history, how strange it 
is that this lovely though lowly order of plants should produce, 
