Principle of Systematizing Corallinse. 



By 



K. Yendo, Rigakushi. 



Within the group of Corallinse verce, the number of species that have 

 been proposed from time to time may reach nearly four hundred in all. 

 Of them, however, many are evidently to be struck out as synonymes to 

 certain others. A large number have had different generic apellations given 

 them by different writers, while not a few were described merely from 

 young sterile forms. There thus exists much confusion in the systematic 

 disposition of the group. We have reasons to expect that the number of 

 really "good" species as yet known to us may not very far exceed one 

 hundred. 



The genera of Corallinje are by no means sharply defined. Some 

 authors have put too much stress upon the external characters of the frond 

 and some others upon the propagating organs. Such circumstances have 

 naturally led to bring confusion in the systematic arrangement. 



The fronds of Corallina3 are extremely variable according to conditions 

 of the locality where they grow. Careful observation of the plants m vivo 

 is of great importance to the specific distinction or identification in this 

 branch of algpe. This may be proved by the case of AmpMroa rigida. 

 This plant, which grows in numbers in the Gulf of Naples, is exceedingly 

 variable in its external appearance, so that some herbarists have made out 

 of it several distinct species. A close study of the plants in the living 

 state has, however, made it manifest that the forms, various as they may 

 seem externally, should be included under one and the same species. Care- 

 ful researches in other parts of the world will probably lead to similar 

 result as regards certain forms which we at present reckon them under 

 distinct specific names. 



In the early times the Coralline were regarded as a group belonging 

 to the Hydrozoa, or at least as one closely related to it. They were com- 

 monly placed among the Zoophytes, a name first employed by Linnteus 



