262 



Mycologia 



Quotation 36 



Classification should be based on homologies and evolutionary 

 descent. I believe that the Lichens have been derived directly 

 from Fungi. They are a polyphyletic group, hence should 

 be classified in the various groups of fungi. The lichens may 

 be retained as a group for convenience as we speak of fungi 

 and algae, of parasites and saprophytes, etc. But when appear- 

 ing in a general system they should be distributed among the 

 fungi. There is no question in my mind but that the fungus 

 and the alga parts of a lichen are distinct entities. The fungus 

 spores do not produce algal cells nor the algal cells hyphae. The 

 lichens show more definite relationship to certain groups of fungi 

 than to each other. Morphologist, a, 2- (i a ). 



Quotation 37 



For availability in a large library and herbarium devoted to the 

 whole field of botany, publications on lichens and specimens of 

 lichens are almost of necessity treated as representing a distinct 

 group of thallophytes, because the bulk of taxonomic literature 

 referring to them shows this line of cleavage. Nevertheless, if 

 I were a lichen specialist, with a library and collection devoted 

 mainly to thallophytes and largely to lichens, I should arrange 

 both library and herbarium with reference to the proper position 

 of the different genera in a rational classification of plants as a 

 whole, — unless, indeed, my personal convenience in reference dic- 

 tated a continuation of the old arrangement, in which case I should 

 follow it for convenience' sake, on the same line of argument 

 that leads one man to alphabetize the genera of a family or the 

 species of a genus, or another man to arrange them both in phy- 

 logenetic sequence in his collection. From my limited knowledge 

 of lichens, I should feel disposed, if entering on their study, to 

 treat them in my publications as part of the larger group, unless 

 I found that so made up my publications were certain to fail to 

 find incorporation in the literature of lichens in libraries, — 

 when I might once more bend purely theoretical considerations 

 to those more directly practical in securing the end for which I 

 was publishing. Systematist, a, 1-, 12-f, 



