TERMINOLOGY OF REPRODUCTIVE ORGANS IN PLANTS. 109 
Zoology we are accustomed to name these sexual cells 
spermatozoon and ovum respectively. The corresponding 
cells in plants have, however, received names without 
number. ‘‘Spermatozoid,” ‘antherozoid,’’ ‘‘male gamete,”’ 
“microzoospore,”’ ‘‘spermatium,’’ for the male; ‘“‘oosphere,”’ 
““macrozoospore,”’ ‘‘ germinal cell,” ‘‘oogonial cell,” ‘‘ arche- 
gonial cell,” for the female, are only a few of the terms 
even now in use in ordinary botanical text-books. Why 
not call the male cell by a term which it shall retain under 
all circumstances, and the female cell by a similarly 
unchangeable name? What zoologist would dream of 
calling the female sexual cell of a Sponge an ovum, and 
that of a Crustacean or a Tunicate an oosphere or a 
germinal cell ? | 
Before deciding what these two important cells should 
be called, let us briefly enquire whether the terms in use 
in Zoology are suitable in all cases. So far as ‘‘ovum”’ is 
concerned I think no fault can be found, and I would propose 
to give that name to the female sexual cell in all plants 
and animals whatsoever, that is to say, to the cell which, 
when fertilized, becomes by segmentation the mass of 
cells destined to form the new plant or animal. With 
regard to the term ‘‘spermatozoon,”’ there is one objection, 
namely that the addition of the word ‘‘zoon”’ suggests, if 
not an animal affinity, at least the possession of the power 
of movement as one of the characteristics of the male 
reproductive cell. Now many spermatozoa even in the 
animal world do not exhibit movement, and motile male 
cells in the plant world are not found in very many groups. 
This difficulty could, however, be easily got over by 
dropping the affix ‘‘zoon,”’ and calling the male cell simply 
a “‘sperm.”’ 
Again the ova and sperms are formed in certain organs 
to which names must be given, ‘‘Ovarium”’ and “ sper- 
