1922] TAYLOR—PHAEOPHYCEAE 435 
tions having observed the fusion of the gametes and even of the 
gamete nuclei of Laminaria, completing the morphological evi- 
dence of alternation of generations in that genus. 
Classification 
It now remains to be seen what effect these recent discoveries 
will have on our ideas of the grouping of the genera of the brown 
algae. The standard text on the brown algae to date is that of 
OLTMANNS (14), published in 1904-1905. The classification used 
there differs from that of KJELLMAN of 1891 (6) in several features, 
notably in the reinclusion of the Dictyotales in the Phaeophyceae 
with the Fucaceae, and in the reduction of several groups of the 
Phaeosporeae from the rank of families, including them under the 
Ectocarpaceae. The classification accepted by Lorsy (12) is nearly 
that of Orrmanns. A recent table by SCHAFFNER (34) disregards 
all the more recent discoveries, giving four orders in the Phaeo- 
sporeae: Ectocarpales (isogamous), Laminariales (zoospores only), 
Cutleriales (anisogamous), and Tilopteridales (oogamous). In the 
Cyclosporeae he includes Fucales and Dictyotales. The obvious 
fact that only a small proportion of the genera known have been 
fully studied, and even that some families are only understood in 
the most fragmentary fashion, need not deter us from taking full 
advantage of the knowledge which is at hand. It must also be 
borne in mind in all cases that parthenogenesis and other kinds of 
short cuts in the life cycle may be present, and may be so char- 
acteristic of the ordinary propagation of the plant that the funda- 
mental type of alternation upon which the classification is based 
may be obscured. 
The orthodox division into two major groups, Phaeosporales and 
Cyclosporales, is still acceptable, provided the former is understood 
to include anisogamous as well as isogamous forms, and a wide- 
spread morphological alternation. The Cyclosporales include all. 
oogamous groups, and may show a reduction from a morphological 
to a mere cytological alternation of generations. The first division 
of the Class PHAEOPHYCEAE is then the 
Order PHAEOSPORALES.—This may be defined as having gametes 
isogamous to anisogamous. It includes three suborders, as follows: 
