88 EVOLUTION OF LIFE. 
higher plants. Botanists join, therefore, these three bey 
in one division, the Thallophytes or Cellular plants, a thallu 
being an expansion of cells, 
With the Thallophytes we leave the first division of the 
vegetal kingdom. 
CHARACEJE, 
The Characee are unique plants, including the Nitella 
and Chara, which differ only in the structure of their tubes, 
the Chara having a cortical layer in addition to the simple 
tubes of Nitella. The Chara is found in ponds and ditches, 
being composed of elongated tubes giving off at intervals 
whorls of branches which look very much like small green 
candelabra. The Chara (Fig. 112) is always an object of 
interest to the microscopist, as exhibiting the circulation 
of the chlorophyll, or green matter, the globules of which 
may be seen ascending and deste ج‎ along the sides of 
the tubes. The Characez in their structure and general 
appearance resemble the Green Algz, while their repro- 
ductive apparatus is more like that of the Mosses. This 
consists of an orange-colored globule and an oval-shaped 
nuclule. The globule (Fig. 112, C) bursting, a number of 
spiral filaments come forth, which move about in the water; 
the nuclule (Fig. 112, D), falling off in time, gives rise to a 
new Chara. The globule and nuclule are supposed to be 
the homologues of the reproductive organs of the higher 
plants. The Characee are isolated en seeming to be 
the only remnant of a group once more numerous: they 
stand on a boundary-line, so to speak, separating the Green 
Algae from the Hepatice. Probably extinct plants allied 
to the Chara gave rise to the Hepatic, and indirectly 
through them to the Mosses and Ferns. 
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