THE SUBDIVISIONS OF THE VEGETABLE KINGDOM. 617 



undesirable and unnatural thing to do; it will on the whole be best to abolish a 

 special class of Chalazogams, and, if thought necessary, to rearrange the families 

 which constitute the Amentacese, but not to sever them from one another. For the 

 Angiosperms we shall in the main follow the arrangement of the well-known 

 Genera Plantarum of Bentham and Hooker, though we reserve our freedom to 

 deal with certain families as seems well to us. 



The vegetable kingdom we divide first into four main divisions or phyla: (1) The 

 Myxothallophyta, including the Myxomycetes only, a group standing apart from 

 (2) the Thallophyta, which include the various classes of Algas and Fungi. Then 

 follows (3) the Archegoniatse, forms possessing archegonia and fertilized by motile 

 spermatozoids, and including the Liverworts and Mosses, and the series of the Ferns 

 (Phyla (1) (2) and (3) constitute what are usually referred to as "Cryptogams"), and 

 (4) the Phanerogamia or flowering plants, fertilized by means of pollen-tubes. They 

 fall into two sub-phyla, Gymnosperms and Angiosperms, and the latter into two 

 classes, Monocotyledons and Dicotyledons. Finally we have the 3 sub-classes of 

 Dicotyledons — Monochlamydese, Monopetalje, and Polypetalae. Here, in outline, is 

 the system : — 



(1) MYXOTHALLOPHYTA, containing 1 class only. 



(2) THALLOPHYTA, containing 5 classes. 



I. Schizo'phyta. 

 II. Dinoflagellata. 



III. Bacillariales. 



IV. Oamophycece. 

 V. Fungi. 



(3) AECHIGONIAT^, containing 2 classes. 



I. Bryophijta. 

 II. Pteridophyta. 



(4) PHANEROGAMiE, containing 2 sub-phyla. 



A. Gtmnospbrm.^ 



B. Angiosperms, containing 2 classes. 



I. Monocotyledones. 

 II. Dicotyledones, containing 3 sub-classes. 

 a. Monochlamydese. 

 h. Monopetalse. 

 c. Polypetalse. 



Each class (or sub-class) is further divided into a number of cohorts or alliances, 

 and each of these alliances into orders or fa'inilies. The alliances will be taken one 

 by one in the following pages, their main characters generally indicated, and the 

 families which they comprise enumerated. It will not be possible within the limits 

 of this book to deal with the several families in at all a comprehensive manner, 

 though the endeavour will be made to point out structural and other characters of 

 interest, and where certain genera or groups of genera have a special interest these 

 will be alluded to. No attempt is made to observe any due sense of proportion in 

 treating of the different alliances. Thus a small alliance containing but few mem- 

 bers of especial interest will receive more detailed consideration than one vastly 



