THE AUSTRALIAN NATURALIST. 191 
the great chain which beginning with plants which their whole 
live long are no more than a single cell about one-thousandth 
of an inch in diameter, ends with our forest giants towering 
hundreds of feet into the air. If I can rouse in one of my 
hearers a desire to do some work in this neglected field, I sha'l 
j2 more than rewarded. The delicacy of these plants, their 
wonderful and often beautiful fructifications, the perfume they 
exhale, the simplicity of their bodies, the devices by which they 
retain moisture. and provide for the propagation of the species, 
_all form delightful subjects of research. I shall let the plants 
now speak for themselves, and you may decide for yourselves 
as to their attractions. I should like to mention that the photo- 
micrographs of my slides have been taken by my friend, Mr. H 
Harrington, whose valuable help in the matter I wish here t9 
acknowledge. 
Slides— 
No. 1. Marchantia polymorpha, to show female fruetifications 
natural size. 
No. 2. Symphyogyna interrupta; collected at Vaucluse; show- 
ing cells of fair size, and their arrangement; also the 
shapeless growing-point as opposed to the wedge-shaped 
growing-point of ferns, ete. 
No. 3. Polyotis clavigera; a New Zealand specimen, given to 
me by Mr. T. Whitelegge. One lobe of the larger 
leaves is converted into a “pitcher” by which moisture 
can be retained. 
No. 4. Lepidozia centipus; collected on the northern side of 
the Harbour; showing two ranks of leaves and long 
root-like outgrowths. 
No. 5. Frullania diplota; Lane Cove Heights and elsewhere; ; 
showing rounded leaves with smooth edges; also tha 
curious Diechere In these pitchers I have often found 
rotifers. 
No. 6. Cephalozia spp.; showing formation of perianth to en- 
close the fructification. e 
No. 7. Zoopsis argentea; leafless, silvery, one of the mos 
beautiful, as it is one I have found least often. This 
photomicrograph was taken with 1/12 inch, oil im- 
mersion. On the edges of the rounded cells of th: 
body are seen tiny bud-like bodies. These drop off ani! 
form new plants. 
