BOTANli 

 GARDI 



PREFACE. 



-•o*- 



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 iield, 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 

 i. Vascular Cryptogams, Muscineae, Algse, and Schizophyceae should be 

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

 . mycetes to ^Ir. ^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 

 ^pmulgated, that it may" be necessary to change one's opinion on some 

 ^ints even in the interval between the printing of the earlier and later 

 S&ets of a volume like this ; and this must be held to account for any 



