370 
POPULAR SCIENCE REVIEW. 
in others, as Funaria, the flowers are separate but on one plant, 
while in others they are on separate individuals ; these three 
modifications constitute the synoicous, monoicous, and dioicous 
inflorescence. 
As the germinative cell enlarges it pushes its way downward 
into the receptacle, and then increasing in diameter ruptures 
the membranous envelope of the archegonium, which is carried 
up on the rising fruit-stalk and becomes the calyptra, while an 
extension of the receptacle sheathes its base and is termed the 
vaginula. When the fruit-stalk has attained its full length 
its apex begins to enlarge and rapidly becomes moulded into 
the future fruit ; if, when this is fully formed but still green, 
we make a vertical section of it, we see that the centre is occu- 
pied by a longitudinal bundle, the columella, between which 
and the capsule wall lies the sporangium or spore sac. The 
inner wall of the spore sac is usually adherent to the columella, 
and its outer to the inner wall of the capsule, but both may be 
free as in Polytrichum, or the sporangium may be suspended 
from the capsule wall by threads as we see in Funaria, in 
which also the columella is very thick, and occupies a large 
portion of the cavity of the sporangium. 
The Fruit. 
The mature capsule or theca of mosses is at once the most 
striking and elegant part in these little plants, and never fails 
to excite the admiration of all who deign to notice them ; the 
most elegant forms, adorned with the richest colours, are seen 
in the various groups, and these are still further enriched by 
the marvellous beauty often seen in the peristomes. 
The thin membranous calyptra, often slit at the side by the 
distension of the fruit, is first thrown off, and we see the perfect 
capsule, furnished in most cases with an operculum or lid 
closing its mouth. The surface of the capsule is smooth and 
frequently furnished with stomata, well seen in the green fruit 
of Funaria ; the cells composing the outer wall are of firm tex- 
ture, and in Orthotricum and others in which striae occur, 
these are formed of different shaped cells. In Splachnaceae the 
neck of the capsule is swollen out into what is termed an apo- 
physis. The forms of the capsule are infinitely varied, but 
spherical, ovate, pyriform and cylindric, are of most frequent 
occurrence. 
The operculum also presents various forms ; in Funaria it is 
only a little convex, in many it is conical or obliquely rostrate, 
and its figure is very constant in individual species. Very 
frequently there is interposed between the mouth of the cap- 
