PREFACE. 



IN presenting to the botanical public this ' Handbook of Cryptogamic 

 Botany,' the result of the labour of several years, the authors are deeply 

 sensible of its inevitable defects. In traversing so wide a field, it is im- 

 possible that a single worker, or even two, can be practically acquainted 

 with more than a comparatively small portion of it. It is necessary, 

 therefore, to consult a literature, the extent of which, even for a single 

 year, is appalling, and in which it is often difficult to distinguish between 

 trustworthy and untrustworthy observations. The attempt has, notwith- 

 standing, been made by the authors to acquaint themselves with the 

 contents of every important publication of recent years bearing on 

 Cryptogamic Botany, and issued in English, French, German, Italian, 

 or Latin. It is beyond hope but that inaccuracies have crept in, or 

 that observations which should have been noted have escaped attention. 

 We shall be grateful to workers and writers who will inform us of any 

 such inaccuracies or omissions, and especially to those who will kindly 

 supply us, with a view to future editions, with copies of papers containing 

 records of new and original observations or theories. Those relating to 

 Vascular Cryptogams, Muscinese, Algae, and Schizophycese should be 

 directed to Mr. Bennett ; those relating to Fungi, Mycetozoa, and Schizo- 

 mycetes to Mr. Murray ; these being the portions of the work actually 

 written respectively by each of us, although we hold ourselves severally 

 responsible for the whole contents of the volume. 



So rapidly are facts accumulating, and new views of affinity being 

 promulgated, that it may be necessary to change one's opinion on some 

 points even in the interval between the printing of the earlier and Jater 

 sheets of a volume like this ; and this must be held to account for any 



