BRT0PH7TA. 



209 



385. The asexual reproduction of Liverworts takes place 

 by means of peculiar bodies, the brood-cells or brood-masses 

 ("gemmffi"), so frequently to be seen in the common 

 Liverwort (Marchantia polymorpha). In the latter plant 

 they are little stalked masses of cells in small cups 4 to 6 

 millimetres (^ inch) in diameter {B and 0, Fig. 131). 

 They are in reality hairs (trichomes) whose upper cells 

 have repeatedly divided so as to form flattish masses. 

 When these fall ofE, they grow directly into new plants. 



386. The antherids of Liverworts are more or less globu- 

 lar, stalked bodies (Pig. 132, C), usually immersed in little 

 depressions in the plant-body. They are to be regarded as 

 hairs (trichomes) whose end cells have become greatly in- 



FiG. 'iSZ.—A, a portion of common Liverwort (Marchantia polymorpha), 

 with two male branches, fttt, in which antherids are borne ; C, an an- 

 therid, magnified ; D, two antherozolds, greatly magnified. 



creased in number. There is an outer layer of cells sur- 

 rounding a great number of interior thin-walled cells, the 

 sperm-cells, each of which contains an antherozoid. 



In the common Liverwort (Marchantia polymorpha) the 

 antherids are produced in the broadly expanded disks of 

 special branches (Fig. 133, A). 'Hhk antherozoids are 



