CHARACER. 9 
Group CHAROPHYTA, Migula. 
Family CHARACE. 
The Characee or Stoneworts possess certain characters, both 
structural and biological, which denote a considerable advance 
in organization beyond the less complex Thallophyta. On the 
other hand there are sufficient differences between them and the 
Bryophyta to exclude them from that group. If we follow 
Migula, who has recently written an exhaustive account of the 
Charace@ for Rabenhorst’s ‘‘ Kryptogamen Flora,’’’ and adopt a 
new class division, Charophyta, we shall best represent the isolated 
position of these plants, and recognize that they occupy a place 
between the Thallophyta and the Bryophyta. 
Genus CHARA, Vaillant. L. 
[Linn. Hist. Acad. Gen. Plant, 1737, p. 326.] 
[Vaillant, Hist. Ac. R. Sci. Paris, 1719.] 
Vaillant? was the first to apply this generic term to the widely- 
spread Stoneworts; he enumerates nine species in an article 
published in 1719. The ‘fruits’? of Chara when first discovered 
in Tertiary rocks of the Paris basin were described by Lamarck® 
under the name Gyrogonites, and uot recognized as plant remains. 
In 1812 Léman‘ contributed a “note sur la Gyrogonite,” and 
pointed out the real nature of Lamarck’s fossils. 
It is convenient to apply the name Chara to those fossil remains 
which in all probability belong to the Characee. The material 
IVOle atc o3: 
2 Hist. Ac. R. Sci. 1719; p. 17, pl. iii. 
3 Ann. Mus. Hist. Nat. vol. ix. pl. xv. fig. 7 and vol. xv. pl. xxiii. fig. 12. 
4 Nouv. Bull. Sci. Paris, vol. iii. Ann. 5, No. 58, p. 108. 
In Zittel’s ‘‘ Handbuch der Palaeontologie,’’ Abth. ii. p. 43, the reference 
to Léman’s paper is given as the ‘‘ Annales”’ (vol. xv.) instead of Nouy. Bull. 
