54 



PRINCIPLES OP PLANT-TERATOLOGY. 



and may also branch. Gyorrfy observed that the 

 setal foot of the moss Moleudoa HornschucJiiana 

 emitted a rhizoid for a distance of 225 /x into the 

 gametophytal tissues ; it grew, not straight down- 

 wards, but in a very sinuous course, and consisted of 

 several cells, and was quite unbranched (PI. Ill, 

 fig. 5). We see that in these isolated cases the sporo- 

 phyte has a root-system of its own. And this must 

 be regarded as an evolutionary step onward towards 

 a higher differentiation and greater independence of 

 the sporophyte. 



Inflorescence. — Coker mentions a kind of fascia- 

 tion in the archegohiophore of the liverwort Preissia 

 quadrata, which was forked above (PI. IV, fig. 6). 



Fig. 13. — Lunularia vulgaris. Sessile group of archegonia situated 

 at base of cavity of thallus. (After Miano.) 



Proliferation of the flower into a second vegetative 

 shoot, reminding us of the same phenomenon in the 

 higher plants, appears to be of very common occur- 

 rence in Polytrichum commune. 



Bescherelle describes a plant of the moss Webera 

 annotina which bore stalked or sessile lateral flowers. 

 In some cases all the flowers were lateral and sessile 

 and the stem terminated in a tuft of leaves. When 

 stalked the flower-stalks were either leafless or leafy. 

 He attributes the occurrence of lateral flowers to 

 branching of the normal terminal one, as they possessed 

 much fewer antheridia and perianth-leaves ; the fact 

 that all the flowers were ripe at the same time supports 

 this. He also observed that in some specimens the 

 perianth showed a tendency to split up into subsidiary 



