410 BRYOPHYTES (MOSS PLANTS) 
is much more complex than the odgonium of the algae. In the 
less lobed receptacles of the gametophores of the male plants (B, 
F.g. 368) occur the antheridia, consisting of a stalk and of a jacket 
of cells which encloses a mass of sperms as shown in Figure 366. 
Fic. 365. — Highly magnified vertical sections through the expanded tops 
or receptacles of female gametophores of Marchantia, showing the sex organs 
and sporophytes. A, section through female gametophore, showing the 
archegonia (a), each of which consists of a neck and an expanded base called 
venter, in which the egg (e) is located _B, section through a female gameto- 
phore, showing sporophytes (s), with their sporangia (h), stalks (¢), foot (jf), 
and also showing spores (2) escaping from the sporangium of the sporophyte 
at the left. 
Since the sperms are produced on one plant and the eggs on an- 
other, the sperms have a considerable distance to be carried to 
the eggs. Thesperms are splashed about during heavy rains, and, 
when near an archegonium, they are attracted to the entrance in 
the neck by an attractive substance which diffuses out of the 
archegonium. The sperms swim down the canal in the neck of 
the archegonium and the first one reaching the egg fertilizes it. 
The fertilized egg or odspore remains where it was formed, be- 
gins to grow and divide rapidly, and soon produces an oblong, 
multicellular, brownish body which consists of a stalk that is 
attached to the receptacle by an absorbing organ called foot 
and bears at the other end a sporangium (B, Fig. 365). The 
