Ig1t] CURRENT LITERATURE 407. 
been raised whether it is not a belated member of the Cycadofilicales, and 
therefore any further information concerning it is desirable. BomMeEr;3 has 
obtained material that supplies additional information, which he publishes 
in a preliminary announcement. The vascular structure of the plant suggests 
to him possible relationship with the Matoniaceae, but the sporangia, now 
found attached, are of special interest. They occur in synangia which resemble 
inverted cones, and possess an incomplete annulus, as in Matonia. Each 
synangium includes 10-15 sporangia, and the synangia themselves are grouped 
2. 
cided whether the most obvious testimony at present should decide for Matonia 
affinities; or whether certain vague suggestions should decide for a Maraittia 
connection; or whether, after all, these synangia may not be the microsporangia 
of Cycadofilicales. This lack of decision is commendable.—J. M. C. 
A classification of plants.—Professor BEssry has long been interested in 
4 general classification of plants which is quite a departure, in many respects, 
from current schemes. In 1909 he published in outline his ripened conclu- 
sions, together with ‘the principles involved, and now he has furnished a key*4 
by which the groupings are defined, so far as a key can define. It is impossible 
to give an account of the views expressed without reprinting the paper, for it 
is in itself the shortest possible statement. It is sufficient to say that the 4 
Conventional main groups are dissipated into 14 ‘“‘phyla,’’ whose technical 
and common names may serve to indicate them: Myxophyceae (slime algae), 
Protophyceae (simple algae), Zygophyceae (conjugate algae), Siphonophyceae 
(tube algae), Phaeophyceae (brown algae), Carpophyceae (higher algae), 
Carpomyceteae (higher fungi), Bryophyta (mossworts), Pteridophyta (ferns), 
Calamophyta (calamites), Lepidophyta (lycopods), Cycadophyta (cycads), 
Strobilophyta (conifers), Anthophyta (flowering plants). These phyla are 
broken up into 32 classes and 94 orders, not including the dicotyledons, which 
Constitute class 33, with 5 “‘super-orders,”’ the list of orders not being given.— 
aC. 
Seeds of the Conostoma group.—OLIvEeR and SALIsBuRY*s have assembled 
the material of Conostoma for investigation, and have compared it with Lage- 
nostoma, P hysostoma, and Gnetopsis. A full description is given of C. oblongum 
and C, anglo-germanicum, and this is followed by a comparison with related 
* Bommer, Cx., Contribution a l’étude du genre Weichselia. Note préliminaire. 
- Soc. Roy. Bot. Belgique 47: 296-304. figs. 18. 1911. 
* Bessey, CHARLES E., The phyla, classes, and orders of plants. Trans. Amer. 
Micr. Soc. 29:85-96. 1910. 
* Otiver, F. W., and Satispury, E. J., On the structure and affinities of the 
Paleozoic seeds of the Conostoma group. Annals of Botany 2§:1-50. pls. 1-3. figs. 
Igrt. 
Bull 
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