168 BOTANY. 



296. The female organ in this division is called a car- 

 pogone, and consists of a single enlarged cell, or of several 

 cells of a special form. In some cases a projection, called 

 the trichogyne, is attached to the carpogone ; its function 

 appears to be the conveyance to the carpogone of the fer- 

 tilizing matter received from the antherid. 



297. The antherid is much more variable in structure 

 than the female organ. In some cases it is applied directly 

 to the carpogone in fertilization, while in others it pro- 

 duces antherozoids. The antheroids and carpogones are 

 often sterile in the hysterophytic species. 



298. The plant-body shows in general a more perfect 

 development in the Carpophyta than in the preceding 

 branches. While it is but little developed in the hystero- 

 phytic species, it is well developed in many of the Red Sea- 

 weeds and the Stoneworts, in which there is often a con- 

 siderable amount of differentiation of the plant-body into 

 caulome and phyllome. 



Five classes may be distinguished, as follows : 



Minute green fresh- water plants ; fruit-spores few, 



Class 4, CoLBOcn^TE^ 

 Red or purple mostly marine plants ; fruit-spores many. 



Class 5, Rhodophtcb^ 

 Mostly parasites ; fruit-spores many, enclosed in sacs, 



Glass 6, ASCOMYCBTE^E 



Mostly saprophytes ; fruit-spores many, on stalks. 



Class 7, Basidiomycbtb^ 

 Large green fresh- water plants ; fruit-spore one. 



Class 8, Chaeophycb^ 



Class 4. CoLEOCHJETE.ffi:. The Simple Fruit-tangles. 



299. The genus Coleoehsete, representing the single order 

 CoLEOCH^TACE^, shows US the simplest form of sexual re- 

 production among the Carpophytes. The species are all 

 minute green fresh-water plants, composed of branching 



