296 Field, Forest, and Wayside Flowers 
a-quiver with cilia, and spinning around as if in- 
stinct with conscious life. And two Japanese 
botanists have found spermatozoids in the pollen- 
tubes of two other cousins of the pines, the grace- 
ful cycad and the gingko-tree. 
Once it was thought that a great gulf was fixed 
between the flowerless and the flowering plants. 
But further study has shown that this gulf is 
bridged, and that the two piers which support the 
bridge are the Lycopodinez (club-mosses and selag- 
inellas) and the gymnosperms. 
After the pollen of a cone-bearer has found its 
way to the ovule the carpels close over and pro- 
tect the developing seed. Those of the red cedars 
and junipers become succulent, and unite so as to 
form a globe with the seed inside. Those of the 
pine, spruce, hemlock, fir, and larch alter still 
more. The ovule of any of these trees is fastened 
to a little protruding disk in the carpel-wall (Fig. 
83). After the ovule has been quickened this 
disk begins to develop surprisingly on its own 
account. It expands at top and sides, and soon 
completely outgrows the carpel to which it was 
once but an humble annex. So the carpel event- 
ually loses its individuality and becomes two 
scales. The uppermost of these is the developed 
