176 INTRODUCTION TO CRTPTOGAMIC BOTANY. 



I. GoNaTLOSPERMB^, J. Ag. 



Nucleus naked, or immersed in the frond, sometimes con- 

 tained in a distinct external conceptacle, simple or consisting 

 of several secondary nuclei (nucleoli) ; spores conglobated 

 without any definite order. 



151. The first great division of the Floridece is character- 

 ised by the numerous spores collected -within a hyaline sac, 

 and not radiating, except occasionally at their first origin, from 

 a common centre, but distributed without order. The nuclei 

 are either solitary (Fig. 43) or compound (Fig. 44, c), and 

 in some instances are quite naked, without any trace of a con- 

 ceptacle.* In some cases it requires some attention to ascer- 

 tain the real structure of the fructifying mass, inasmuch as 

 where the placenta is reduced to a mere point, and the spores 

 radiate from a common centre, it is very easy to imagine that 

 the sac is simply filled with spores disposed without any defi- 

 nite order. The divisions are less numerous than in the other 

 maia division, but some of the genera, as Oigartina, Cera- 

 mium, and GaUitharmnion, abound in species, even after 

 reducing numerous varieties to their normal types. There are 

 few of the more frondose species, perhaps, which can vie with 

 Delesseria or Amansia, in delicacy of frond or essential 

 elegance, but there are still many fine species, especially 

 amongst the analogous forms ; and amongst the articulate and 

 filiform kinds there are productions which may bear 'compa- 

 rison, for beauty, with the whole vegetable world. The divi- 

 sions depend partly on the structure of the fronds, and partly 

 on the mode of origination of the spores ; and there are many 

 analogies, in respect of the frond, where the fruit is altogether 

 different. Like other analogies, they are often deceptive, and 



* In generic characters, the perfect condition of the conceptacles is 

 always meant, except something is expressed to the contrary. Where 

 the spores are conglobated, there is either a successive development of 

 joints from above downwards, or new spores are produced in new cells 

 generated where the old ones have fallen oif. Cavities which are at 

 first merely lined with an hymenium, having a single stratum of spores, 

 are thus, at length, filled up in some of the Hypogoeous and allied 

 Fimgi, with a compact mass of fruit. 



