370 
MUSCINEM. 
latter then put forth protonemal filaments, which produce first of all a flat mem- 
branous protonema; and upon this finally new leaf-buds arise (Figs. 251, 252). 
Finally the deciduous branch-buds of Bryum annotinum may also be considered 
as organs of reproduction; as also, according to Schimper, may the branches of 
Conomitrium juUanum and Cinclidotus aquaticus, which likewise have the power of 
detaching themselves. 
The Sexual Organs of Mosses usually occur in considerable numbers at the 
end of a leafy axis ^ surrounded by enveloping leaves often of peculiar shape, 
and mixed with paraphyses, and the whole group of organs may, for the sake of 
brevity, be called a ' Receptacle.' The receptacle of Mosses either terminates the 
growth of a primary axis (Acrocarpous Mosses), or the axis is indeterminate, and 
the receptacle is placed at the end of an axis of the second or third order (Pleuro- 
carpous Mosses). Within a receptacle either both antheridia and archegonia are 
produced (bisexual receptacles), or it contains only one kind of sexual organ, and 
the receptacles may then be either monoecious or dioecious. Sometimes the male 
receptacles appear on smaller plants with a shorter duration of life (as Funaria hygro- 
metrica, Dicranum undulatum, &c.). In external appearance the bisexual are similar 
^ The male branches of Sphagnum form an exception (vide infra). 
