12 
F. Cavers. 
lapping, arranged in regular straight or spiral rows, and often 
richly coloured red, purple, brown, etc., even in species where the 
ordinary branches are devoid of colouration other than pale green. 
The antheridia are spherical and attached to the axis of the branch 
by a slender and relatively long stalk which is inserted at one end 
of the base of the leaf. The position of the antheridia with 
reference to the leaves is thus the same as that on a branch of a 
stem, and Leitgeb (10) noticed that a vegetative bud may occupy 
the place of an antheridium on the male branch, The branching 
Fig. 63. Longitudinal section of female branch of S. compactum, showing 
two ai'chegonia. ° 
filaments, described by Schimper in his classical work on Sphagnum 
(44) as paraphyses accompanying the antheridia, are only of 
occasional occurrence, and they probably belong to the fungus 
which will be mentioned later in connexion w r ith the archegonia and 
sporogonia. The antheridium arises from a cell which after 
repeated transverse divisions, producing a cell row, shows apical 
growth by means of two sets of segments cut from the terminal 
cell; the lower cells divide longitudinally, as well as transversely, 
to form the thin stalk. 
The female branches are very short and bud-like, deep-green 
in colour. The leaves externally visible at the top of the branch 
are usually much longer than any other leaves on the plant; they 
differ from the branch-leaves in having few fibres in the hyaline 
