KERN: TAXONOMY OF THE FUNGI 71 



Eumycetae. or true fungi, constitute another. The other seven divisions 

 include the algae. "Abandonment of the Algae as a subdivision of the plant 

 kingdom," says Smith, "does not mean that the word alga must be abandoned." 

 He believes that we can still use the term alga for designating simple green 

 plants that have an independent mode of nutrition. We might add that we 

 will likewise continue to use the term fungus although attempts to define it 

 lead to difficulties. 



Bessey in his "Textbook of Mycology" has attempted a definition of the 

 term fungi that would not commit the definer to any system of classification. 

 We quote : "Fungi are chlorophyll-less thallophytic organisms typically con- 

 sisting of coenocytic or cellular filaments, but including also encysted or 

 amoeboid one-celled organisms which reproduce by some type of motile or 

 non-motile spore ; excluding the Bacteria and such chlorophyll-less organ- 

 isms, which, by their structure, are with definiteness assignable to recognized 

 orders of algae." Bessey is of the opinion that the Mycetozoa are not related 

 to the fungi ; are not, indeed, plants. There are those who believe that the fungi 

 should not be regarded as belonging to the Plant Kingdom. Herbert F. 

 Copeland in a comparatively recent paper (Quarterly Review of Biology, 

 December, 1938) has presented evidence and argument "to the effect that 

 organisms can be arranged, naturally, and more conveniently than in the 

 past, in four Kingdoms as follows" : 



Kingdom 1. Monera (Bacteria and Blue-green Algae) 



Kingdom 2. Protista (Protozoa, Diatoms, Red and Brown Algae, Slimemolds, and 



Fungi) 



Kingdom 3. Plantae (Green Algae, Liverworts and Mosses, Ferns and Allies, Seed 



plants) 



Kingdom. 4. Animalia (Metazoa) 



To those who have been accustomed to thinking that all living organisms 

 must be either plants or animals the recognition of two new groups as King- 

 doms may seem revolutionary. It is true, however, that the line .between lower 

 plants and lower animals has always been a difficult one to draw. It must 

 be admitted that nomenclatorially there are difficulties in placing together in 

 the Kingdom Protista organisms which have been previously in two different 

 Kingdoms. The original proposal for a Kingdom to be called Protista w^as made 

 by Haeckel in his "Generelle Morphologic" in 1866. He also established the 

 group Monera but included it in Protista. According to Copeland other 

 authors have expressed the opinion that the Monera should be treated as a 

 separate Kingdom. 



The comments presented here relative to the origin of the fungi form a 

 very inadequate picture of the discussions and arguments that exist in the 

 writings of many investigators. We have wished merely to call attention to 



