Page:Journal of botany, British and foreign, Volume 34 (1896).djvu/515

 SYNOPSIS DER MITTELEUROPAISCHEN FLORA. 481 dealt with in the new edition of Eabenhorst's Kryptogamenflora, The two parts issued comprise Filicarise, EquisetariaB, and Lycopo- diariae as far as SelagineUa selaginoides, and suffice to give an idea of the plan and style of the work. The general arrangement of the classes and orders is essentially that of Engler and Prantl's NaturUche Pfianzenfamilien; the treatment of the genera and of the species is more original. A new departure — new at least for a synopsis or flora on so large a scale — has been made by the dis- tinction oi collective species (Gesammtarten), species xar' l^ox^v (Arten), and subspecies {J] niQVdiXiQVL). Further degrees of subdivision adopted in the work are races (Kassen, proles), or forms, the differential characters of which coincide with a distinct geographical distri- bution, varieties (Abarten), and suhvarieties (Unfcerabarten). The latter are enumerated concurrently with sports (Spielarten, lusus), or individual aberrations. It is evident that a system of classifica- tion which carries subdivision so far, particularly in its lower grades, requires an intimate knowledge of the material to be classified. With this we may unhesitatingly credit the author, who is generally admitted to be the first living authority on European floras. It involves, however, a risk of encumbering the text, and obscuring the more general and truly important features of the arrangement. Indeed, it can hardly be said that the author has wholly escaped this danger : the clearness of the classification and of the text generally has decidedly suffered. Moreover, this draw- back has been enhanced in the case of genera, numbering more than a few species, by the interpolation of a dichotomous clavis in the descriptive text, sometimes carrying the variety of the letter- press to a degree which is almost bewildering. Besides, the subdivisions of the species are, with the exception of the sub- species, not designated as races, varieties, or suhvarieties, as one might expect from the explanation on the wrappers. They are simply enumerated under I, II, A, B, a, b, c, &c., and it is left to the student to attribute to a given form, described for instance under I (which figure is, by the way, not printed, because it is considered to be sufficiently indicated by the following II), or under II b, the rank of a race, or a variety, or a subvariety. As an example, we may quote Gystopteris fragilis, which is divided into two subspecies. A, C. eu-fragilis and B, C. regia. Of 0. eu-fragilis two principal forms are distinguished, with respect to the indumentum; the first, which is supposed to be form I., is 0. eu-fragilis xar i^oxhvy and has therefore no special name ; the second is II. Huteri. C. eu-fragilis nocr 'i^oyvtv is further broken up into two minor forms according to the degree of the division of the fronds, viz., A. dentata and B. pinnatipartita. B. 2^in,natipartita is again subdivided in a. anthriscifolia, b. cynapiifolia, c. angustata, d. acutidentata. Then we find a form C. deltoidea, separated from the remainder of I. on another principle, viz. on account of the length of the lowest pair of pinnas. But this is not all, for we find at the end of the subspecies C. eu-fragilis a form b. Baenitziij dis- tinguished from the rest (which represents a.) by the different sculpture of the spores.