THE AMERICAN BOTANIST 62 



The student is now prepared to plunge into the almost in- 

 finite variety of detail of plant life with some chance of not 

 becoming hoplessly confused but a few more remarks may be 

 made with reference to the Outline. 



Looking over the names of the plants in the order listed 

 in the Outline, the direction and progress of evolution in 

 plant life becomes clear, the Bacteria have no sexes and there- 

 fore were never able to progress very far constructively, 

 although they are certainly destructive enough. Each one is 

 simply a microscopic stomach turned inside out which grows 

 by absorbing nourishment. When large enough, a ''string" 

 grows around its "equator" and contracts till the microbe falls 

 apart into new bacteria. The process of growth and sub- 

 division, or Fission, continues as long as the food supply lasts. 



In the higher plants the tendency is for the flower to be 

 smaller than the rest of the plant and parasitic on it. In Divi- 

 sion 2, the reverse is true in having the asexual generation 

 parasitic on the sexual plants. In Mosses of Order 18, the 

 small sporogonium ripens without destroying the large sexual 

 plant. In Order 19, the ferns completely destroy their small 

 sexual prothallia and send roots into the ground. 



In Sub-Kingdom 2 conditions are reversed and amplified ; 

 not only are the flowers parasitic on the old asexual genera- 

 tion, but a nezv asexual generation is started and grows to the 

 seed stage of development. 



This gives a fairly comprehensive idea of botanical prin- 

 ciples; the description is very brief and its treatment of bot- 

 any is intended to be suggestive rather than exhaustive; the 

 suggestions should be carefully followed up till thoroughly 

 understood, if a clear understanding is to be maintained 

 through the mazes of farther instruction and study. 



[It may be noted that the names borne by the orders in the 

 outline here given, differ in some respects from those used by 

 many modern botanists. The tendency at present to have all 

 the orders end in ales, but the divisions of the vegetable king- 

 dom are essentially the same and the differences in the names 

 need not confuse. — Ed.] 



