LYCOPODIUM. 
213 
These have been called antheridia. In the Selaginellas , 
another kind of spore-case is produced, which contains 
three or four roundish fleshy spores, many times as large 
as the granular spores, and marked at the apex by three 
elevated radiating ridges. These larger bodies are called 
oophoridia. 
The true explanation of these parts is a matter of doubt. 
All that seems certainly known is, that the larger spores, 
or oophoridia, do germinate, or at least vegetate. Accord¬ 
ing to Willdenow, however, the smaller ones germinate 
also. Dr. Lindley formerly suggested that the powder- 
like grains are true spores, while the larger ones are 
buds or viviparous organs ; and this view was apparently 
supported by the descriptions given of the supposed ger¬ 
mination of these larger bodies, in which a process quite 
analogous to the vegetation of a bud was clearly pointed 
out. Recent observers, however, consider the larger bodies 
rather as the true spores'. 
It has been usual to regard both sets of organs, when 
present, as axillary to the leaves or bracts; and so they 
may be considered for all practical purposes. A different 
theoretical explanation has, however, been given by Muller, 
who considers the oophoridium as the entire metamor- 
