INTRODUCTION TO CRYPTOGAMIC BOTANY. 447 



vered by Schmidel,* one of the most accurate of observers, and 

 have since been often examined ; they have been seen to enter the 

 archegonia. Besides the fruit, reproductive gems occur in many 

 species. Jungermanniacece are found in all parts of the world, 

 but they luxuriate most in warm climates, especially in countries 

 like New Zealand, where the temperature is tolerably uniform. 

 Perhaps no country produces such a variety of noble species. 

 Such delicate bodies cannot be expected to occur in a fossil 

 state, except preserved in amber. Their qualities are but little 

 known. A few species are highly fragrant, but I am not 

 aware that any species answers any useful purpose to man. 

 At present they must be regarded as objects of elegance, or as 

 mere botanical curiosities, f 



* Schmidel Icoues. Jungermannia pusilla, tab. 22, p. 85, H 5. 



t The development of the spores o^ Anthoceros from the mother cells 

 has been carefully traced out by Mohl, in Linnaja, vol xiii., p. 273 ; 

 and the germination of the spores, and the development of the young 

 plant, including Marchantice and Lunularice, by Greenland, Ann, d. Sc. 

 Nat., ser. 4, vol. i., p. 6. These either produce a sort of protonema or 

 mycelium, as in Mosses, a flat or lentiform disc, or the spores them- 

 selves are transformed into little masses of cellular tissue. Sometimes 

 the point of cell-formation is the tip of the inner membrane of the spore, 

 protruded in the form of a thread. Both these latter modes may be 

 exhibited by diffei'ent spores of the same species. 



