subkingdom (subking"dum)

1. A prime subdivision of the animal kingdom; a supercla corresponding to the "branches" or "embranchements" of French zoölogists, as Cuvier, who recognized the four subkingdoms of the vertebrates, mollusks, articulates, and radiates. Eight such groups now very generally recognized, in fact Such main groups are now more commonly called phyla. if not in name, are Protozoa, Cælentera, Echinoderm at a, Vermes, Arthropod a, Molluscoidea, Mollusca, and Vertebra ta. Some authors degrade Vermes from this rank, or otherwise dispose of it as a subkingdom; some elevate the Tu nicata to this rank; and the Molluscoidea are not recognized by all as a subkingdom. The prolific animals of the fifth day's creation belonged to the three Cuvierian subkingdoms of the Radiata, Articulata, and Mollusca, and to the cla es of Fish and Reptiles among the Vertebrata. Dawson, Origin of World, p. 213. 2. In bot., a primary division of the vegetable kingdom; the highest cla below the kingdom doms, the Phanerogam i a and the Cryptogam i a; itself. The ordinary division is into two such subking systematists incline to recognize four: Spermophyta (corresponding to the Phanerogam i a ), Pteridophyta, Bryophy ta, and Thallophyta (corresponding to Cryptogam i a ).