361 
Willdenow,* has attempted a careful revision of the genus, 
so it is obvious, that although those characters were sufficient 
to separate the new species from others already described, yet 
they by no means avail to keep them distinct from the 
many discovered since. Hence arises the almost impos- 
sibility of determining what particular kinds were intended 
by authors. Farther, they have evidently been described 
without a sufficiently minute examination of the exact forms 
of the leaves, and stipules, serratures, and texture of the 
foliage; without due attention having been paid to the mode 
of growth and ramification (which often lead to characters 
of great importance); without, in short, the same careful and 
microscopic investigation that is required for studying the 
Mosses, a family that may, in many respects, be said to be 
allied to them. Thus, perhaps, in the present enumeration 
we may have adopted, as new, many species that are already, 
though not accurately, defined, but whose identity it is totally 
out of our power to determine: while, on the contrary, there 
are individuals which may, with equal justice, be referred to 
several specific descriptions, on account of the vagueness of 
their characters. We do not flatter ourselves that we 
have avoided the faults of our predecessors; for these are, 
to a certain extent, inseparable from the subject on which we 
treat. We shall feel grateful for the correction of our 
friends, and for any suggestions that may lead to a more 
complete acquaintance with the tribe, and we shall pay no 
pains to render our Filices Asiatice, and Species Filicum, as 
Perfect as circumstances will allow. 
Although in the present list we shall seek to consult a 
oe TEL ME ELA. 
* The useful Prodromus of M. Desvaux, in the 6th vol. of the Annales de la 
Société Linnéenne de Paris, ought perhaps to be reckoned an exception to am 
Statement: but although that author has added several new petis yet 
*PPears to have continued a great number of old ones, whose validity resta - 
very slight grounds; and on the other hand, for want of diagnosis, (or : 
descriptions instead,) even those Lycopodia which are there first defined, canno 
always be determined with certainty. It is to be regretted, that M. pel 
Rot yet given to the world a more fall history of the Ferns, of which 
moir in question was only designed to be the forerunner. 
