PLATE XXL— COMMON HAIR-MOSS (Polytrichum) and FUNARIA HYGROMETRICA 



Mosses are common everywhere, on wall-tops, roofs, and trees, decking the banks with a mantle of green, or carpeting the forests 

 with their luxuriance. Mosses, however, like other plants, have als6 their favourite haunts and their favourite seasons, but Funaria has 

 this advantage, that it may be found in fruit at almost any season of the year. 



The Hair-Moss {Polytrichum) is common on waste-ground and heaths where it forms tufted masses. The male and female organs 

 are borne by distinct plants, and the hairy cap of the moss-fruit may be readily recognised. The stem may be several inches in height. 



Funaria occurs on walls, roofs, and waste-places pretty common. The leafy plant is small, but the stalk bearing the pear-shaped 

 capsule is an inch or two in length. This stalk has the peculiarity of contracting to. a spiral on drying after being moistened. 



Fig 1 . 1. Male Plant of Polytrichum, with numerous brown root-hairs and slender stem. 



The apex of the stem forms a leafy expansion bearing the male organs. 



Fig. 2. Female plant of Funaria. 



In the young condition the Capsule is sessile, but it is borne on a lopg stalk later. 

 The Leafy plant has a very short stem, with bright green leaves overlapping each other. 



Fig. 3. The flattened apex is bounded by leaves, and bears stalked bodies of considerable size intermixed with barren filaments. 



The stalked bodies are the male organs or Antheridia, consisting of a wall formed of a single layer of cells, 

 and the interior cells developing Antherozoids. 



Tease out portions of the apex, and examine under high power for Antheridia with Antherozoids, and Arche- 

 gonia. 



Fig. 4. Antherozoid, a coiled body with two cilia. 



Stain with iodine to kill them and make cilia visible. 



Fig. 5. Archegonium, a flask-shaped body with long neck and a lower swollen portion containing the central cell. 



Fig. 6. Sporocarp of Polytrichum. 



The unripe Capsule is still green and covered by its brown hairy cap. 



The lid beneath the cap is peaked. 



The ripe Capsule is of a brownish-yellow and the cap yellowish. 



Fig. 7. Ripe Spore-capsule of Polytrichum (June). 



The lid is cast off and the spores escape. 



The mouth of the capsule is surrounded by sixty-four teeth forming the Peristome. 



The Epiphragm is the expanded end of the Columella. 



Fig. 8. Peristome of Funaria consisting of sixteen teeth converging to a centre. 



Fig. 9. Embed Capsules of Funaria in paraffin, and make longitudinal and transverse sections. 

 Outer wall or peripheral layer of cells. 

 Columella or central cylinder of colourless cells. 

 Spore-sac surrounding columella. 

 Air-cavity with strings of green cells permeating through it. 



Fig. 10. Ripe spore consisting of inner and outer wall, protoplasm and oil-globules. 

 Fig. 11. Sow spores on blotting-paper kept moist under a glass shade. 



Fig. 12. The germinating spore gives rise to a thread-like branching body — the Protonema, and a bud forms which grows up 

 into the leafy Moss. 



Life History of a Moss. — The leafy Moss-plant forms at its apex either Antheridia producing Antherozoids or Archegonia with 

 their Central-cells. The antherozoids fertilise the central cell, converting it into an Oospore. This oospore divides and 

 produces directly the Sporogonium with its contained Spores. The top of the ripe capsule detaches itself, and the spores 

 come out : and on a suitable situation begin to germinate. The thick outer coat is ruptured, and the inner coat protrudes 

 as a filament which grows, divides and branches, till a mass of branched filaments is formed called the Protonema. The 

 Protonema gives rise to a bud by the bulging out of a side branch, and this produces the leafy Moss as at the beginning. 



