266 



Mycologia 



Summary and Conclusions 



1. About 83 per cent, or five sixths of 115 botanists believe that 

 the lichens should be maintained as a distinct group of plants. 



2. About 17 per cent, or one sixth of 115 botanists believe that 

 lichens should be distributed among other fungi to the exclusion 

 of the group Lichenes. 



3. Of the 83 per cent, who favor maintaining the group 

 Lichenes about 12 per cent, think that distribution is admissible. 



4. So about 26 per cent, of the 115 botanists think distribution 

 either desirable or admissible. 



5. Lichenists stand almost universally for maintaining Lichenes 

 because a natural group. 



6. Yet seventeen (17) botanists other than lichenists, or about 

 20 per cent, of other botanists, favor distribution of lichens, while 

 about 80 per cent, of botanists other than lichenists favor main- 

 taining the group. So the views of lichenists have not greatly 

 influenced the results as given in one (1) and two (2) above. 



7. Europeans are more favorable to maintaining lichens as a 

 natural group of plants than are Americans. 



8. The figures in the first table show that, lichenists excepted, 

 convenience has had greater weight than naturalness of the group 

 in causing so large a per cent, of botanists to favor maintenance. 



9. Forty (40) botanists favored maintaining Lichenes because 

 a natural group and 22 favored distributing these plants because 

 not a natural group. So leaving out of account every considera- 

 tion except naturalness, more than half as many favor distribu- 

 tion as there are in favor of maintenance. 



10. Leaving lichenists out of the consideration, 25 other 



Formverhaltnissen der Thallus. Da nun um Bau und Entwicklung der 

 Flechtenfruchtkorper ganz demjenigen der Thelephoraceen, Pyrenomyceten, 

 Hysteriaceen, Phacidiaceen, Pezizaceen, etc. entsprechen, so sehe ich keinen 

 Grund ein wesshalb man die Flechten nicht auch in diese Gruppen vertheilen 

 sollte. Dabei ist natiirlich nicht ausgeschlossen, dass es dann auch kleinere 

 Gruppen geben wird, die nur durch Flechten vertreten sein werden, ebenso wie 

 es ja auch viele Gruppen von Pilzen gibt, die durch keine Lichenen repraesen- 

 tirt sind. So liegen die Dinge in der Theorie. In Praxi aber, z. B. in der 

 Darstellung fur die Vorlesungen oder in der Lehrbuchern wird es doch immer 

 anschaulicher bleiben, wenn man die Flechten fur sich im Zusammenhange 

 behandelt wegen ihrer eigenartigen und einheitlichen biologische Verhaltnissen. 



