A safe means of deciding between the monophyletic and polyphyletic hypotheses is as yet quite impossible, considering the imperfect state of our phylogenetic knowledge. The different groups of Protista, and those lowest forms of the animal kingdom and of the vegetable kingdom which are scarcely distinguishable from the Protista, show such a close connection with one another and such a confused mixture of characteristics, that at present any systematic division and arrangement of the groups of forms seem more or less artificial and forced. Hence the attempt here offered must be regarded as entirely provisional. But the more deeply we penetrate into the genealogical secrets of this obscure domain of inquiry, the more probable appears the idea that the vegetable kingdom and the animal kingdom are each of independent origin, and that midway between these two great pedigrees a number of other independent small groups of organisms have arisen by repeated acts of spontaneous generation, which on account of their indifferent neutral character, and in consequence of their mixture of animal and vegetable properties, may lay claim to the designation of independent Protista.
| II. Vegetable Kingdom Plantæ | III. Animal Kingdom Animalia | ||||
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| Flowering Plants Phanerogamia | Vertebrate Animals Vertebrata | ||||
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| │ │ │ | Articulated Animals Arthropoda
| │ │ │ | |||
| Ferns Filicinæ │ | Star-fishes Echinoderma
| │ │ │ | │ │ │ | Molluscous Animals Mollusca
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| │ | │ | │ | │ | │ | |
| │ | │ | │ | │ | │ | |
| Mosses Muscinæ | Lichens Lichenes |
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| │ │ | │ │ | Worms Vermes | |||
| │ | │ | │ | |||
| │ │ | │ │ | Animal-trees Zoophytes | │ │ | ||
| Algæ | Fungi Fungi | │ │ | │ │ | ||
| │ | │ | │ | │ | ||
| │ | │ | │ | │ | ||
| I. |
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| Primæval Plants Protophyta | Neutral Primæval Creatures Protista | Primæval Animals Protozoa | |||
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| │││ | │││││││││││ | │││││ | |||
| │││ | │││││││││││ | │││││ | |||
| │││ | │││││││││││ | │││││ | |||
| Vegetable Monera | Neutral Monera | Animal Monera | |||
| │ | │││││ | │ | |||
| │ | │││││ | │ | |||
| │ | │││││ | │ | |||
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| │ | |||||
| │ | |||||
| Archigonic Monera | |||||
| II. Vegetable Kingdom Vegetabilia
| I. Protista Kingdom Protista │ | III. Animal Kingdom Animalia
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| │ │ │ |
| │ │ │ │ │ │ │ │ │ │ │ │ │ │ │ │ │ │ │ │ │ | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| │ │ │ │ │ | Slime-moulds, or Mucous Fungi Myxomycetes
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| │ │ │ │ | │ │ │ │ | Flint-cells Diatomæ
| Flimmer- balls Catallacta
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| │ │ │ │ | │ │ │ │ | │ │ │ │ | Whip swimmers Flagellata
| │ │ │ │ | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| │ │ │ │ | │ │ │ │ | │ │ │ │ | Tram weavers Labyrinthulea
| │ │ │ │ | Ray streamers Rhizopoda
| │ │ │ │ | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| │ | │ | │ | │ | │ | │ | │ | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Primæval Plants Protophyta | │ │ │ | │ │ │ | │ │ │ | Amœbæ or Protoplasta | │ │ │ | │ │ │ | │ │ │ | Primæval Animals Protozoa | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| │││ │││ │││ | │ │ │ | │ │ │ | │ │ │ | │││││ │││││ │││││ | │ │ │ | │ │ │ | │ │ │ | │││││││ │││││││ │││││││ | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Vegetable Monera | │ │ | │ │ | │ │ | Neutral Monera | │ │ | │ │ | │ │ | Animal Monera | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| │ | │ | │ | │ | │ | │ | │ | │ | │ | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| │ | │ | │ | │ | │ | │ | ♱ | │ | ♱ | │ | │ | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| ♱ | │ | │ | ♱ | │ | │ | │ | ♱ | │ | ♱ | │ | │ | │ | ♱ | │ | ♱ | │ | ♱ | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| │ | ♱ | │ | ♱ | │ | ♱ | │ | │ | ♱ | │ | ♱ | │ | │ | │ | │ | │ | │ | │ | │ | │ | ♱ | ♱ | │ | │ | │ | ♱ | |||||||||||||||||||
| │ | │ | ♱ | │ | │ | ♱ | │ | │ | │ | ♱ | │ | │ | ♱ | │ | │ | ♱ | │ | │ | │ | │ | │ | │ | │ | ♱ | │ | │ | │ | │ | ♱ | │ | │ | ♱ | │ | │ | ♱ | ||||||||||
| ♱ | │ | │ | │ | │ | ♱ | │ | ♱ | │ | ♱ | │ | │ | │ | │ | │ | ♱ | │ | │ | │ | ♱ | │ | │ | │ | ♱ | │ | ♱ | │ | │ | │ | │ | │ | │ | │ | │ | │ | ♱ | │ | │ | │ | │ | │ | │ | ♱ | │ | │ |
| │ | │ | │ | │ | │ | │ | │ | │ | │ | │ | │ | │ | │ | │ | │ | │ | │ | │ | │ | │ | │ | │ | │ | │ | │ | │ | │ | │ | │ | │ | │ | │ | │ | │ | │ | │ | │ | │ | │ | │ | │ | │ | │ | │ | │ |
| │ | │ | │ | │ | │ | │ | │ | │ | │ | │ | │ | │ | │ | │ | │ | │ | │ | │ | │ | │ | │ | │ | │ | │ | │ | │ | │ | │ | │ | │ | │ | │ | │ | │ | │ | │ | │ | │ | │ | │ | │ | │ | │ | │ | │ |
N.B.—The lines marked with a ♱ indicate extinct tribes of Protista, which have arisen independently by repeated acts of Spontaneous Generation.
Thus, if we assume one entirely independent trunk for the vegetable kingdom, and a second for the animal kingdom, we may set up a number of independent stems of Protista, each of which has developed, quite independently of other stems and trunks, from a special archigonic form of Monera. In order to make this relation more clear, we may imagine the whole world of organisms as an immense meadow which is partially withered, and upon which two many-branched and mighty trees are standing, likewise partially withered. The two great trees represent the animal and vegetable kingdoms, their fresh and still green branches the living animals and plants; the dead branches with withered leaves represent the extinct groups. The withered grass of the meadow corresponds to the numerous extinct tribes, and the few stalks, still green, to the still living phyla of the kingdom Protista. But the common soil of the meadow, from which all have sprung up, is primæval by protoplasm.