The Seniors of the Forest 291 
vegetative cell, and beside it, a little chamber full 
of spermatozoids. And in the larger spore mean- 
time there is formed a ‘‘ female’’ prothallus, which 
soon grows big enough to rupture the spore-wall 
and protrudes through the fissure it has made. 
Fic. 82.—A larger (‘‘ macro”) and two smaller (‘‘ micro”) spores 
of Selaginella martensii (the Lycopodium stoloniferum of florists). 
All magnified alike to show actual comparative size. 
In this protruding part, archegonia, like those of 
the fern-prothallus, are formed, and at about the 
same time the spermatozoids in the smaller spore 
are ready to seek their affinities, and the spore-wall 
bursts, setting them free. They are provided with 
little cilia, which quiver and vibrate like the cilia 
on the fern-spermatozoid, and by means of these 
they swim actively over the dewy- or rain-soaked 
ground, till they find the larger spore and in it 
the archegonium they have been seeking. 
