254 Field, Forest, and Wayside Flowers 
tionless, finds itself thrust forth into the great 
world. 
Being cast upon his own resources has had an 
energizing and awakening effect upon many a human 
idler or Jack-a-dreams. And the little antherozoid, 
turned loose, acts as if it had become instinct with 
conscious life. 
Its coils draw apart, and we see that at the 
thicker end of the spiral is a tiny drop of jelly, 
which is all that now remains of the contents of the 
mother-cell, while at the thinner end there is a dense 
tuft of fine, curved filaments. 
These tremble and sway like the fins of a fish, 
and by their aid the antherozoid can swim about, 
with a motion so like that of an aquatic animal 
that one who watches it is inclined to doubt that 
it is endowed only with the blind, unconscious life 
of the vegetable world. Hence, the tiny thing is 
sometimes called a spermatozooid, for the Greek suf- 
fix zooid signifies ‘‘like an animal,’’ while sperma 
means ‘‘a germinal principle of life.’’ 
There is ample opportunity for the display of its 
natatorial powers, for to a swimmer so minute 
every drop of dew is a lake. 
While Nature has been giving birth to these little 
navigators, there have been forming, on the cush- 
