INTRODUCTION. 



INTRODUCTION. 



As this fascicle now goes to press, it occurs to me that a 

 word as to the nature of the whole work may not be out of place. 

 The original plan, as has been explained in the introduction to the 

 preceding fascicle, was to publish in a long series, extending it 

 might be over as many as fifteen years, a flora which should con- 

 tain full descriptions of all plants found in Formosa. That plan, 

 however, was slightly altered even in the first fascicle owing to the 

 necessity of limiting in advance the number of pages so as not to 

 exceed the grant made by the Government. 



That first portion of the work contains an enumeration of plants 

 from Eanunculacese to Rosace ae, with descriptions of new or 

 noteworthy plants, references to species (as far as accessible), and 

 a key to the families, genera and species with their respective 

 localities and geographical distributions. It had been my intention 

 to pursue this altered plan in the case of this second fascicle ; but 

 soon after the manuscript was ready, 1 was informed of a further 

 reduction of the grant, and this has compelled me to cut out 

 nearly all references to species. 



The present fascicle therefore, like the preceding one, contains 

 a key to the families, genera, and species, and an enumeration 

 of plants from Saxifrageae to Dipsaceae with their localities 

 and geographical distributions ; but the references to species are 

 considerably limited. Descriptions are given only in the case of 

 plants which are new or which I have not hitherto described. Of 

 these plants such as have been worked up since last year and are 

 now described by me for the first time, appear under the heading, 

 " New or Noteworthy Plants of Formosa." 



