Page:The New International Encyclopædia 1st ed. v. 12.djvu/641

* LYCOPODIALES. 567 The word literally means 'cone,' and refers to a terminal, conical or cylindrical, spore-bearing structure. It is the presence of these club-like bodies at the ends of the moss-like brandies which has suggested the name 'club-mosses.' The .strobilus is composed of a series of closely over- lapping bracts (reduced leaves), each "one of which bears at its base upon the upper side a single spnre-case (sporangium), in which the spores are produced. Tliis strobilus is the same structure as that called a 'cone' in the pines and their allies. A very important fact in connection with the club-mosses is that the species of Selaginella are heterosporous. A'hen a microspore germinates it produces a verj' small male plant (male gameto- ph3'te), so small that it does not escape from the spore. This small and concealed male plant de- velops a sex-organ (antheridium) which pro- duces sperms. The sperms of club-mosses differ from those of other pteridophytes in that they are very small and have only two cilia for locomo- tion. When a megaspore germinates it produces a small female plant (female gametophyte), which remains within the megaspore, but rup- tures it on one side, growing out a little beyond it. In this exposed part of the little female plant sex-organs (arehegonia) are developed, in each of which an egg is formed. To these eggs the sperms have access and fertilize them. The resulting fertilized egg (oiispore) then germi- nates and produces the ordinary leafy club-moss, which is a sexless plant ( sporophyte ). The habit' of some species of Selaginella which do not shed the megaspore is so suggestive of seed-plants that many think the seed-plants, or at least some of them, may have been derived from the club- mosses. The quillworts (species of Isoetes) should probaljly be associated with the club-mosses in the group Lycopodiales, though some would in- clude them with the true ferns (Filicales). They look like very slender tufted grasses growing in water, the hatiit being very unlike that of the club- mosses. In many important particulars, how- ever, the resemblance is striking, the most conspicuous being the single spore-case (spo- rangium) at the base of each spore-bearing leaf. Quillworts are also heterosporous, as are the species of Selaginella. The most important dif- ference is in the sperm, which is large and bears many cilia, as in the ordinary ferns. Recently it has been thought that perhaps the adder-tongues (Ophioglossum) and moonworts (Botrvchiiim) should be placed among the Lyco- podiales ratlicr than with the true ferns, with which thc.v have always been associated, although as a very distinct group. The genus Lycopodium has fossil representa- tives, called Lycnpodites, in the Devonian. Car- boniferous, and Jurassic rocks. Allied forms are Psilotum and Psilophyton, the latter of which is very abundant in the form of graceful leafv terminal branches in the Devonian shales and sandstones of North America and the Rhine provinces of Germany. Other fossils. i.:sually con- sidered to be gigantic ancestral club-mosses, are the lepidodendrids of late Paleozoic time. See the articles Lepidodendron ; PTERiDoniYTES ; Alternation of Generatiox.s ; Oospore; Speb- matopiivte. LYCOPO'DIUM. A genus of club-mosses. See LTcoponiALEs. LYDDA. A city of ancient Egypt. See LYCOP'OLIS. SH'T. LYCUR'GUS (Lat., from Ok. AvKorpyoc, Lij- kourijos). According to common tradition, a Spartan lawgiver and political reformer, who lived in the ninth century u.c, and was a son of King Eunomus. The legend tells how he exiled himself from Sparta in order to avoid the sus- picion of aiming at the throne of his infant nephew, t'harilaus; traveled in Greece, Asia, and Egjpt, and studied the laws of Minos in Crete. Returning home, he found Sparta in civil com- motion and at war with her neighbors. He undertook to introduce a new constitution and to establish a new social order, which should make of Sparta a preeminently militarv State. How mucli of what is traditionally attributed to Lv- curgus was actually his work it is not easy to define with arcuracy. See Sparta. LYCURGUS (e.395-323 B.C.). A Greek ora- tor, included in the canon of the ten Attic ora- tors by the Ale.andrian critics. He was born at Athens, and spent his life there. He is most famous for his management of the finances of Athens after the defeat of Cha-ronea ; in fact, he was the only statesman of antiquity who displayed real knowedge of finance. For twelve years (338-320) he controlled the revenues, and under his administration many new buildings were built and many old buildings were re- modeled or completed. These included the ar- senal of Philo, the Panhellenic Stadion, the Lyceum, and the theatre of Dionysus. In poli- tics Lycurgus favored the anti-JIacedonian policy of Demosthenes (q.v. ). and he was one of the orators whose surrender Alexander demanded after the destruction of Thebes (335), although this demand was afterwards withdrawn. Fifteen years after his death, when the democratic party came into power, a decree was passed by the Athenians that public honors should be paid him ; a bronze statue of him was set up in the Ceram- icus. The ancients possessed fifteen speeches of L.A'curgus. two of which were written in defense of his financial policy. Only one has been preserved, the speech Against Lcocrates. The speech, to- gether with the fragments of Lj'cui-gus. has been published by Blass (T^ipzi.g, 180!l). Consult also: Blass, Die atttKche IScredsamkcit (2d ed., Leipzig, 1887-98) ; Jebb, The Attic Orators (Lon- don, 1876). LYD'DA (Lat., from Gk. A,'c.!n, TIeb. Ud, renamed Diospolis in the second century a.d. ). A city of Palestine, in the plain of Sharon, about 10 miles southeast of .Joppa. According to I. Chron. viii. 12, it was founded by Shanier or Sha- med of the tribe of Benjamin, the liistorical foundation for which is probabl.v that a Benja- mite clan was settled there. Some of its inhab- itants must have been taken to Babylonia, for Lodites apjiear in the lists of those who relumed under Zerubbabel, Ezra, and Xehemiah (Ezra ii. 33; Neh. vii. 37: xi. 35). It was the ])lace where Saint Peter healed .Eneas and received tlic re- quest to proceed to .Joppa on behalf of Dorcas (Acts ix. 32-43). Lvdda is mentioned by .To- sephus (H'dis. iii. 3. 5) as one of the eleven toparchies or districts over which .Torusalem presided. Its inhabitants suffered considerably during the various struggles of the Jews against Roman supremacy. About the time of Vespasian. Lydda was a home of Jewish