234 American Quarterly Microscopical Journal. 



cruciform. Spore four-cornered at the combining place, 

 with lengthened corners sticking into the cells. 



St. gracillimum, Hass. Cells about 0.006 d.; I.z=8-i5 d. Spore 

 verrucose (warty). Filaments separated, especially in 

 peat bogs, 



9. Gen. Craterospermum, A. Br. Chlorophyll, as in the pre- 

 ceding genus, with starch grains. Copulation spore in 

 the middle of the constricted, connecting piece, spherical 

 with cubical covering. 



C. Icetevirens, A. Br. Cells 0.02-0.037 d. ; l. = 3-8 d. Forms 

 light-green masses in swamps. 



C57' 



Ertitarial. 



A NATURAL SYSTEM OF THE THALLOPHYTES. 



Dr. George Winter has published* a most excellent article 

 " On a Natural System of the Thallophytes," which we would 

 be glad to translate in full if space would permit. After briefly 

 reviewing and criticising the systems of Cohn and Sachs, he 

 admits that " Both are in a certain degree natural, but the 

 adherence to a single characteristic — the sexual reproductive 

 phenomena — has made them, at the same time, too artificial; 

 and, in fact, it is at present very difficult, indeed partly im- 

 possible, to devise a natural system of the thallophytes." " The 

 two main branches are Fungi and Algae; but the special build- 

 ing up of each series is indeed difficult." 



In this respect the author opposes all those systems in which 

 the Fungi are regarded as having their origin in the corre- 

 sponding types of the Algae. He considers, with Fischer, that 

 the Algae and Fungi are "Two parallel developed groups, 

 which have not reached the same stages of perfection, either 

 in morphological or histological characters; of which the 

 Fungi terminate in the Ascomycetes, while the Algae are united 

 with the mosses through the Characeae. Indeed, it may be 

 that the Fungi as a whole occupy a lower stage of development 

 than the algae," However this may be. Dr. Winter has cer- 

 tainly pointed out some evident inconsistencies in the systems 



* Hedwigia, Notizblatt fur kryptoganiische Studien, etc., January, 1S79. 



