SYNOPSIS DER MITTELEUROPAISCHEN FLORA. 481 



dealt with iu the new edition of Kabenhorst's Kryptofjamen flora. 

 The two parts issued comprise Filicarii'B, Equisetarite, and Lycopo- 

 diarifB as far as SelagineUa selagxnoides, and suffice to give an idea 

 of the pLan and style of the work. The general arrangement of 

 the classes and orders is essentially that of Engler and Prantl's 

 Natnrliche Pflanzenfamilien; the treatment of the genera and of 

 the species is more original. A new departure — new at least for a 

 synopsis or flora on so large a scale— has been made by the dis- 

 tinction oicuUcctive species (Gesammtarten), species kut I^q'x/iv (Arten), 

 and subspecies ({JniexoxiQw). Further degrees of subdivision adopted 

 in the work are races (Kassen, proles), or forms, the differential 

 characters of which coincide with a distinct geographical distri- 

 bution, varieties (Abarten), and subvarieties (Unterabarten). The 

 latter are enumerated concurrently with sports (Spielarten, lusus), 

 or individual aberrations. It is evident that a system of classifica- 

 tion which carries subdivision so far, particularly in its lower 

 grades, requires an intimate knowledge of the material to be 

 classified. With this we may unhesitatingly credit the author, who 

 is generally admitted to be the first living authority on European 

 floras. It involves, however, a risk of encumbering the text, and 

 obscuring the more general and truly important features of the 

 arrangement. Indeed, it can hardly be said that the author has 

 wholly escaped this danger : the clearness of the classification and 

 of the text generally has decidedly suffered. Moreover, this draw- 

 back has been enhanced in the case of genera, numbering more 

 than a few species, by the interpolation of a dichotomous clavis in 

 the descriptive text, sometimes carrying the variety of the letter- 

 press to a degree which is almost bewildering. Besides, the 

 subdivisions of the species are, with the exception of the sub- 

 species, not designated as races, varieties, or subvarieties, as one 

 might expect from the explanation on the wrappers. They are 

 simply enumerated under I, II, A, B, a, b, c, &c., and it is left to 

 the student to attribute to a given form, described for instance 

 under I (which figure is, by the way, not printed, because it is 

 considered to be sufficiently indicated by the following II), or under 

 II b, the rank of a race, or a variety, or a subvariety. 



As an example, we may quote Cystopteris fragilis, which is 

 divided into two subspecies. A, C. eu-frayilis and B, C. reyia. Of 

 C. eu-fraejilis two principal forms are distinguished, with respect to 

 the indumentum; the first, which is supposed to be form I., is 

 C. eu-frayilis xar' i^oxnv, and has therefore no special name ; the 

 second is II. Huteri. C. eu-frayilis accr e^o^liv is further broken up 

 into two minor forms according to the degree of the division of the 

 fronds, viz., A. dentata and B. jnnnatipartita. B, pinnatipartita is 

 again subdivided in a. anthriscifolia, b. cynapiifolia, c. anyustata, d. 

 acutidentata. Then we find a form C. deltoidea, separated from the 

 remainder of I. on another principle, viz. on account of the length 

 of the lowest pair of pinnge. But this is not all, for we find at the 

 end of the subspecies C. eu-frayilis a form b. Baenitzii, dis- 

 tinguished from the rest (which represents a.) by the different 

 sculpture of the spores. 



