490 
The Ohio Naturalist. 
[Vol. IX, No. 6, 
forms, development of woody stems, development of the annual 
habit, development of epigyny, development of cyclic flowers, 
coalescence of the perianth or of other organs, decrease in the 
number of floral parts, development of zygomorphv, increase or 
decrease in the number of ovules, the presence of alternate and 
opposite leaves, development of geophily, development of the 
various kinds of fruits, extra-floral nectaries, and a host of other 
important or trivial characters both morphological and 
physiological. 
In the present attempt sixteen great phyla have been recog¬ 
nized. Recently Besseyt has published a paper entitled “A 
Synopsis of Plant Phyla” in which fifteen phyla are proposed. 
In general it may be stated that the writer agrees with Bessey’s 
scheme and as far as possible his names have been adopted in the 
present paper. The sixteen phyla are as follows: 
ScHIZOPHYTA 
Myxophyta 
Diatomeae 
CONJUGATAE 
Gonidiophyta 
Phaeophyta 
Rhodophyta 
Chareae 
Mycophyta 
Bryophyta 
Ptenophyta 
Calamophyta 
Lepidophyta 
Cy’CADOPHYTA 
Strobilophyta 
Anthophyta 
It will be seen that a uniform system of group endings is 
maintained except for three phyla each of which is represented 
by a single class. At present the writer is not prepared to give 
these groups distinctive names, although uniformity would have 
its advantages. 
Although the Diatomeae and Conjugatae are commonly 
united as one phylum, there are fundamental differences between 
them which have not been cleared up satisfactorily and until 
further knowledge of their cytology is obtained a final union is not 
advisable. The fifth phylum, the Gonidiophyta (gone, genera¬ 
tion and dim. term, idion, gonidium, a zoospore) includes all the 
green algae except the Conjugatae and Chareae, besides two 
classes of fungi, the Archimycetae and Monoblepharideae. The 
name, Archimycetae, should more properly be spelled Archaemy- 
cetae or simply with an e. This group connects with the lower 
green algae while the Monoblepharideae are closely related to the 
Siphoneae. Almost all of the Gonidiophyta, as the name indi¬ 
cates, are characterized by the presence of zoospores. The 
Chareae have practically nothing in common with the red algae. 
Their affinities are probably with the green algae but so far 
removed that they are here regarded as an isolated phylum. 
t Univ. Studies 7: 275-373. 1907. 
