50 MR. C. BAILEY ON THE STRUCTURE ETC. 



stages of development they are sometimes more nume- 

 rous. The male flowers are more often solitary. In the 

 centre of the fascicle are the youngest flowers (see 

 figs. 68 & 69). 



In appearance the flowers look as if they were ordinary 

 anthers and pistils, i. e. as if they possessed no perianth ; 

 but Dr. Magnus has shown that their outermost covering 

 is really a perianth which more or less closely invests the 

 anthers and pistils. In fig. 16 on Plate VI. the perianth 

 has been drawn back from the exposed anther of N. major. 

 Figs. 22j 24, 25, and 28 show the natural reflexion of the 

 perianth-leaves in the male flower of N. major. 



All the flowers are sessile, and I have endeavoured to 

 convey, in the accompanying figures, accurate represen- 

 tations of each. 



X. The Pistilliferous Flower. 



The female flower consists of an elongate flask-shaped 

 body, with a long neck which bifurcates at its free end 

 (figs. 68 & 70), like the bifid stigma of a Car ex, such as 

 C ovalis. The outer covering is the perianth ; the body 

 which it encloses is the pistil. 



In its early stage the lower, or flask-shaped, portion 

 consists of a globose or ovate body, surmounted by a flat 

 parallel-sided band, of nearly the same breadth as the 

 lower portion (fig. 67) . The upper portion, or neck of the 

 flask, divides about halfway up into two divisions, like the 

 stigma of an ordinary flowering plant (see fig. 71). This 

 stigmatoid portion attains its maximum length very early. 

 The basal portion contains a single anatropous ovule, and 

 it enlarges both outwards and upwards until it is twice the 

 length of the style-like portion (see fig. 70). 



The investing membrane (fig. 88), which can be removed 

 like the ealyptra of a Polytrichum, is made up of one or 



