CHAPTER IV 

 TAXONOMY 1860-1900 



AT the opening of the period under consideration the 

 classification of the vegetable kingdom was in a very imper- 

 fect condition. Under the influence partly of Hofmeister's 

 brilliant researches on the Vascular Cryptogams, and of 

 those of Thuret, Pringsheim, Naegeli, De Bary, and others 

 on the Thallophytes, the inordinate importance that had 

 been attached to the Phanerogams was disappearing, 

 and inquiry was being directed for the most part to the 

 relationships existing among the lower plants. The main 

 outlines of the principal groups of these were gradually 

 taking shape, but the details of structure presented by 

 the numerous types had not been ascertained with sufficient 

 clearness to enable any satisfactory subdivisions of the 

 larger groups to be arrived at. Though the great class 

 of the Thallophyta was recognized, and was seen to differ 

 in important respects from the more highly organized 

 Mosses, the line between them was not drawn with precision 

 and certainty. The cleavages between the Mosses and the 

 Pteridophyta, and between these and the Phanerogams 

 were seen more distinctly, and general conclusions had 

 been arrived at as to the range of forms to be allotted to 

 certain main divisions. The system of de Candolle, with 

 various modifications suggested by different systematists, 

 was still the basis of classification for the flowering plants. 



The early part of the period was characterized by great 

 activity in the unravelling of the problems presented by 

 the lowlier forms ; the structure, modes of reproduction, 

 and general life-history of almost innumerable species of 



