MOSSES. 37 
to be carried by the wind to some congenial spot, 
where through course of time they may spring up 
and form a new colony of mosses, which in their-turn 
will carry on the circle of life, from the seed to the 
full-grown moss, and from the full-grown moss to 
the seed, the beginning and the ending, the end- 
ing and the beginning. 
Besides these curious capsules, there are other 
organs of fructification which clearly demonstrate 
the sexuality of mosses. Their real nature has 
only recently been accurately ascertained. They 
are called antheridia and pistillidia or archegonia, 
from the strong resemblance which they bear to 
the stamens and pistils of the flowering plants, and 
from their being supposed to perform the same or 
analogous functions. They are small spherical 
or flask-shaped bodies, fixed by short footstalks, 
concealed in cup-shaped receptacles among the 
perichetial or uppermost leaves, and often occur 
in abundance along with the capsules on the same 
plant. Examined under the microscope, the an- 
theridia are found to consist of a bag, whose 
membrane is formed of somewhat oblique cells, 
containing granular matter arranged around a 
bright red nuclear body, which divides into a 
number of small vesicular bodies of precisely the 
same character. This granular matter, under a 
higher power of the microscope, is resolved into a 
