226 LIVING PLANTS 



usually associated with the Synchytria, have 

 a much reduced but demonstrable mycelium 

 formed of cellulose, and are, therefore, unmis- 

 takable plants. 



Among the lowest forms, as generally clas- 

 sified, the Rhizopods, including Amoeba, and 

 the far simpler Monera, show no distinct en- 

 velope, either nitrogenous or carbohydrous, 

 but as the other affinities appear to be with 

 animals rather than with plants, they are 

 doubtless rightly placed in the animal king- 

 dom. It is reasonable to expect that more 

 careful examination will, in some cases, show 

 a simple or imperfectly formed nitrogenous 

 envelope. 



The crucial diagnostic character, which is 

 here proposed, has in its favor the separation 

 of plants and animals upon a line which ac- 

 cords well with the consensus of opinion of 

 thoughtful students, both botanists and zo- 

 ologists, an opinion which has been formed 

 from a variety of structural, physiological and 

 developmental data. Full relationship must 

 necessarily be adduced from a study of the life- 

 history of organisms; diagnostic characters 

 only form points of departure. 



