66 FLOWERLESS PLANTS 



flowers are present on the same shoot, but more 

 often they are, as we have seen in the case of 

 the Hair Moss, on different stems. It is not an 

 unnatural question to ask, in what way the 

 spermatozoids can travel the intervening space ? 

 As in the case of the fern plants mentioned in 

 Chapter II., the httle bodies move along through 

 the agency of water. By a beautiful arrange- 

 ment, the flowers of the mosses do not come 

 to maturity save in very moist weather, when 

 the whole plant is covered with a film of 

 water. Through this moisture the spermato- 

 zoids travel, aided in their movements by two 

 long hairs which exhibit a considerable amount 

 of activity. It is now generally believed that 

 when they are ready for fertilisation the female 

 cells give out into the surrounding moisture a 

 certain element which attracts the male bodies 

 to the source of the discharge. 



We thus see why it is that the mosses are in 

 a most energetic condition during the damper 

 months of the year, for the scheme of repro- 

 duction cannot be carried through unless the 

 plants themselves are covered with rain or dew 

 drops. 



There is much in this strange story which 



