July 29, 1898.1 



SCIENCE. 



137 



of the highest authoritj^, based as it is on the 

 earlier work of Eichler, for in the past few 

 years the Germans have surpassed the English 

 in their broad philosophical views of taxonomy 

 and are leaving all other European nations far 

 in the rear in their advance in systematic 

 botany. The work is further useful to stu- 

 dents in that it calls attention in a brief but 

 pointed manner to those plants which are use- 

 ful to man, and this with its systematic ar 

 rangement makes the syllabus a practical and- 

 convenient handbook. In the systematic ar- 

 rangement the following succession of groups is 

 adopted : 



Abteilung, 



Unteeabteilung, 

 Klasse, 



Untekklasse, 

 Eeihe, 



Unteeeeihe, 

 Familie, 

 A series practically the same as that generally 

 followed on this side of the Atlantic since Ab- 

 teilung is the equivalent of Phylum, and Meihe 

 of our Order. 



The chief divisions of plants as far as classes 

 given in the Syllabus are as follows : 



I. Abteilung. ITIyxothallopliyta. 



1. Klasse. Aceasieae. 



2. Klasse. Plasmodiophorales. 



3. Klasse. Myxogasteees. 



II. Abteilung. Eutliallophyta. 



1. Unterabteilung. Schizophyta. 



1. Klasse. Schizomycetes. 



2. Klasse. Schizophyce.?e. 



2. Unterabteilung. Flagellatx. 



1. Klasse. Acheomatoflagellat^. 



2. Klasse. Chloeoflagellat^. 



3. Klasse. PH^OFLAGELLAT.ffl;. 



3. Unterabteilung. Euphycex. 



1. Klasse. Peeidiniales. 



2. Klasse. Bacillaeialks. 



3. Klasse. CONJUGAT.E. 



4. Klasse. CHLOEOPHYCE.a;. 



5. Klasse. Chaeales. 



6. Klasse. Ph«ophyce.e. 



7. Klasse. Diotyotales. 



8. Klasse. EhodophycejE. 



4. UnterabttriluDgen. Euviycetes. 



1. Klasse. Phycomycetes. 



2. Klasse. Basidiomycetes. 



3. Klasse. Ascomycetes. 

 Anhang FuNGi iinipeefecti [sic]. 

 Nebenklasse Lichenes. 



4. Klasse. Labodlbeniomy'cetes. 



III. Abteilung. Embryopliyta zoidiogania. 



1. Unterabteilung. Bryophyta. 



1. Klasse. HEPATic-fE. 



2. Klasse. Musci. 



2. Unterabteilung. Pteridophyia. 



1. Klasse. Filicales. 



2. Klasse. Sphenophyllales. 



3. Klasse. Equisetales. 



4. Klasse. Lycopodiales. 



IV. Abteilung. Emiiryophyta Siphonog- 

 ama. 



1. Unterabteilung. Gymnospermx. 



1. Klasse. Cycadales. 



2. Klasse. Bennettitales. 



3. Klasse. Coedaitales. 



4. Klasse. Ginkgoales. 



5. Klasse. Conifee.e. 



6. Klasse. Gnetales. 



2. Unterabteilung. Angiospermx. 



1. Klasse. MoNOCOTYLEDONiE. 



2. DlCOTYLEDONE.aE. 



The most patent objection to the primary di- 

 visions of the above series is seen in its clumsy 

 group names. With such appropriate names as 

 Archegoniata and Spermaphyta* in common use 

 on both continents, the use of such compound 

 terms as ' Embryophyta zoidiogama ' and Em- 

 bryophyta siphonogama ' is entirely uncalled- 

 for, especially since the supposed characters in- 

 volved in the terms have been exploded by 

 the researches of, Japanese and American bot- 

 anists. Likewise the use of prefixes, particu- 

 larly that of ' Eu ' is highly objectionable. If 

 a plant is a thallophyte at all, it is naturally a 

 true or sure- enough thallophyte without the use 

 of a prefix ; and if the Mycetozoa are to be re- 

 tained in the vegetable kingdom where they un- 

 doubtedly belong, some group name suggestive 

 of their animal affinities would be at once more 

 suggestive as well as more simple than ' Myxo- 

 thallophyta. ' 



Notwithstanding the dictum issued from Ber- 

 lin in regard to the proper rules of nomencla- 

 ture to be followed, announcing, among a few 

 other excellent suggestions, that family names 



* Or Spermatophyla if exact etymology rather than 

 condensed simplicity is sought. 



