THE AMERICAN BOTANIST 



85 



Phycomycete problem? And among the Phaeophyceae, it is 

 almost perverse to select Fiicus, when Ectocarpus and Lamin- 

 aria might be chosen and would present in simplest and vivid 

 form the double problem of phaeophycean derivation and 

 evolution toward the thalloid type. 



When we get to the Bryophytes things are somewhat 

 better, but the Fungi leave us with the uncomfortable feeling 

 of having witnessed a waxwork show. It really is not incumbent 

 upon a botanical text writer to fish up every devious bit of 

 morphology and reproduction in his mycological treasure- 

 house; he might do vastly better tO' simplify his material and 

 order it in some fashion other than mere taxonomy suggests. 

 And are we all so afraid of our smugly cherished "authority" 

 that we cannot suggest to the student where likelihood of 

 relationship lies? Can we not at least follow the results of 

 latest authoritative research, and give the tyro the comfort of 

 that ? No line of fungi dropped down from heaven or instituted 

 itself by any geratia aequiz'oca. Every one of these groups has 

 an origin in holophytic ancestry, and where the connection is 

 even partially evident, it should be put before the student, how- 

 ever tentatively one feels it need be done. The German texts 

 are away ahead of us in this respect; there is no timidity in 

 their handling of morphologic problems or of phylogeny. But 

 of the fungi and their typic exemplification more anon. 



In the Bryophytes there still lingers the Marchantia tradi- 

 tion that will continue to claim an absurdly disproportionate 

 amount oi space in comparison with the importance of the 

 curious group. But, (I cannot avoid the feeling of debt here 

 tO' CampbeH's archegoniate studies), the truly representative 

 genera, such as Pellia, Ricciocarpus, Anthoceros, are being 

 given their due. One gets the impression that the mosses are 

 still 'lumped", for there is little attempt made to get them into 

 relation with the liverworts or to indicate their own progress; 



