 He was able to identify and illustrate moss antheridia, archegonia and male gametes.He directly observed the germination of spores and formation of the protonema.He was less successful with other sporophytes, being unable to determine the life cycles of ferns or fungi, but he did make useful observations on the algae "Chara" and "Spirogyra" and he made it clear that he was not the first to get new plants from sowing the spores of mosses, David Meese having done it before him.