THE AMERICAN 



MONTHLY 



MICROSCOPICAL JOURNAL 



Vol. X. APRIL, 1889. No. i. 



All communications for this Journal, whether relating to business or to editorial 

 matters, and all books, pamphlets, exchanges, etc., should be addressed to Ameri- 

 can Monthly Microscopical Journal, Box 6jo, Washington, D. C. 



European stibsc^iptions may be sent directly to the above address accompanied 

 by International Postal Order for Si.ij per annum, or they may be settt to Messrs. 

 Triibner cS^ Co., jy Ludgate Hill, London, or to Mr. VV. P. Collins, /j/ Great 

 Portland street, Londoti, acco)npanied by the yearly price of five shillings. 



Desmids: Their Life History {iiul Their Classification.— II. 



By Rev. FRED'K B. CARTER, 



MONTCLAIR, N. J. 



( Continued frotn page j8. ) 

 For a long time the desmids were held to be animals. Ehrenberg so 

 considered them, and it is only within the last thirty years that the ques- 

 tion has been definitely settled in regard to their vegetable nature. We 

 separate, then, first the mineral and animal kingdoms and confine our- 

 selves to that which lies between. Now this vegetable kingdom has 

 two grand divisions, the Phanerogamia and the Cryptogamia, the flow- 

 ering and the non-flowering plants ; or more correctly^ according to the 

 latest definition, the plants which reproduce by seeds and those which 

 ai-e propagated by spores. The Cryptogamia again comprise two dis- 

 tinct sub-divisions, plants with woody matter and those without. The 

 Horse-tails, Ferns, and Club-mosses belongto the first : the other mosses, 

 Sea-weeds, Lichens, and Fungi belong to the second ; ^nd this is the 

 section which concerns us. Mosses, Sea-weeds, Lichens, and Fungi, 

 then, the four lowest classes of the lowest grand division of the vegeta- 

 ble kingdom — among these our favorites find their true place. Sea- 

 weeds or algae, that is the name of the class or group, and they are at 

 the very bottom of the list, i/ie lowest of all gree?t things tifon the 



List op Figures in the Frontispiecb. 



Fig. I. Gonatozygon asperum. Filaments and 

 zygospore. 



2. Hyalotheca dissi/iens. 



3. Bainbusina brebissonii. 



4. Desmidiiim sivartzii. Filaments in vege- 



tative condition. 



5. Mesotcenium endlicherianunt. A group 



of four cells. 



6. Spirotania condensata. 



7. Spharoznsmafiliforini. 



8. Peniiim navicula. A larger sized cell. 



9. Ciosterium striolatum. 



All of these figures are copied from Wolle's Desmids of the United States 



Fig. 10. Docidiuni baculum. 



1 1 . Catocylindrus pseudoconna! us . 



12. Cosmariuin uiargciriti/erum. 



13. Tetmemoris brebissonii. Longer form. 



14. Xanthidium /asciculatutn. 



15. ArthrodesHius fragile. Front view. 



16. Euastruni didelta. 



17. Micrasterias denticulata. Semi cell of 

 a smaller form. 



18. Staurastrum arctiscon. 



19. Fhymatodocis nordstedtianum. 



Copyright, 1889, by C. W. Smiley. 



