Group CHAKOPHYTA, Migula. 



Family CHARACE^l. 



The CTiaracece or Stoneworts possess certain characters, both 

 structural and biological, which denote a considerable advance 

 in organization beyond the less complex ThallopTiyta. 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 

 Characece for Rabenhorst's " Kryptogamen Flora," 1 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, Yaillant. L. 



[Linn. Hist. Acad. Gen. Plant, 1737, p. 326.] 

 [Vaillant, Hist. Ac. R. Sci. Paris, 1719.] 



Yaillant 2 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 3 

 under the name Gyrogonites, and uot recognized as plant remains. 

 In 1812 Leman 4 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 Characece. The material 



1 Vol. v. p. 93. 



2 Hist. Ac. R. Sci. 1719, p. 17, pi. iii. 



8 Ann. Mus. Hist. Nat. vol. ix. pi. xv. fig 7 and vol. xv. pi. xxiii. fig. 12. 

 * 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 Leman's paper is given as the " Annales" (vol. xv.) instead of Nouv. Bull. 



