152 HOFMEISTER, ON 



rical form. Afterwards it is often agglomerated into glo- 

 bular masses, — some small and some large, — of transparent 

 hyaline matter, as is the case in the Jungermannise. 

 These processes may be seen especially clearly in Archidium 

 phascoides (PI. XXIII, figs. 1—3). 



The product of the dissolution of the transverse septa of 

 the string of cells which traverses the longitudinal axis of 

 the neck of the archegonium frequently consists, in mosses, 

 of a vermiform mass of highly refractive, hyaline, transpa- 

 rent mucilage (PI. XIX, fig. 8). It seems that the forma- 

 tion of this string of mucilage is favoured by dryness of 

 habitat. I seldom failed to find it in plants of Fimaria 

 hygrometrica which had grown in dry places. It is much 

 less often found in plants taken from moist situations. 

 In Pltascum cuspiddtum, a part of the contents of the wide 

 axile string of cells lying immediately over the central cell 

 of the archegonium very often assumes the form of an irre- 

 gularly-shaped heap of coarse granules (PL XX, figs. 5, 8). 



The first stages of development of the antheridia of 

 mosses entirely correspond, as has been already stated, 

 with those of the archegonia. A clavate mass of cellular 

 tissue protrudes in a precisely similar manner above the 

 upper surface of the end of the stem, consisting, — with the 

 exception of the continually multiplying terminal cell and 

 the cells of the base, — of four vertical rows of cells : in an 

 almost precisely similar manner, a string of cells traversing 

 the axis of the organ is formed by the division of the cells 

 of one of the above rows ; this occurs in the species of 

 Phascum, Gymnostomum, Bryum, Eucalypta, and Fimaria 

 (PI. XIX, figs. 1, 2, 3). In other cases diagonal septa ori- 

 ginate in each of the four rows of cells, after which radial 

 septa are formed in the outer ones of the new cells ; by this 

 means the antheridium becomes much more massive. This 

 is the case in Polytrichum. 



The inner cells of the young antheridium multiply very 

 actively in all three directions (PI. XIX, fig. 4). The cells 

 of the upper surface divide only by septa perpendicular to 

 the outer walls, and much less frequently than the inner 

 cells. The antheridium thus becomes a clavate sac, con- 

 sisting of a single layer of cells, which encloses an elongated 



