CELLULARES, OE CELLtTLAE PLANTS. 73 



injure it, and do not mosses modify their organs to protect 

 themselves? Let us look at the evident design of these 

 movements. Surely the life thus manifested is only part of 

 the system of life which pervades all organic matter, the same 

 in kind, hut inferior only in degree. 



96. The pedicel or stalk of the sporangium, continued 

 through the middle of the sporangium, forms a central cellu- 

 lar axis or support called the columella, around which the 

 spores are agglomerated ; enlarged under the sporangium, it 

 forms an apophysis (arto^vaii, excrescence). 



97. The antheridia of mosses are produced like the cap- 

 sules in the midst of little rosettes of leaves, which differ 

 from those of the stem in appearance ; they are minute, 

 cylindrical, clavate, cellular sacs, which discharge from their 

 apex a mucilaginous fluid containing numerous cellules, in 

 each of which a spiral phytozoon (^vtov a plant, and ^uov an 

 animal) is seen. These exhibit active movements in water, 

 at certain periods of their existence, similar to the zoospores 

 of the algae ! ! Here again the vegetable appears to approach 

 the animal kingdom. Whilst the highest classes of animals 

 and plants are widely separated from each other, the lowest 

 members of each kingdom approximate so closely that it is 

 impossible to draw a line of demarcation between them. 



98. The antheridium-bearing plants of Polytrichium, or 

 the common hair-cap moss, are very conspicuous, and are 

 selected as most suitable for the purpose of illustration. In 

 Fig. 30, at a, we have represented the antheridium-bearing 

 plant of the Polytrichium. It will be seen that the leaves 

 at the apex are different in form from those on the side of the 



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