24S 



IHE ALUMNI JOURNAL. 



SPERMATOPHYTA 49 



Gymnospermae 49 



I Pinaceae 49 2 Texaceae 6r 



Angiospermae 61 



Monocotyledones 62 



1 Typhaceae 62 15 Commelinaceae 374 



2 Sparganiaceae 63 16 Pontederiaceae 379 



3 Naiadaceae 65 17 Juncaceae 381 



4 Scheuchzeriaceae 82 18 Melanthaceae 399 



5 Alismaceae 84 19 Liliaceae 410 



6 Vallisneriaceae 92 20 Convallariaceae 427 



7 Gramineae 94 21 Smilaceae 438 



8 Cyperaceae 234 22 Haemodoraceae 442 



9 Araceae 360 23 Amaryllidaceae 443 

 10 Lemnaceae 365 24 Dioscoreaceae 446 



II Mayacaceae 367 25 Iridaceae 447 



12 Xyridaceae 368 26 Marantaceae 454 



13 Eriocaulaceae 371 27 Burmanniaceae 455 



14 Bromeliaceae 374 28 Orchidaceae 456 



Dicotyledones 482 

 Choripetalae 482 



1 Saururaceae 482 10 Urticaceae 530 



2 Juglandaceae 483 11 Loranthaceae 534 



3 Myricaceae 487 12 Santalaceae 536 



4 Leitneriaceae 489 13 Aristolochiaceae 537 



5 Salicaceae 490 14 Polygonaceae 541 



6 Betulaceae 506 15 Chenopodiaceae 569 



7 Fagaceae 513 16 Amaranthaceae 586 



8 Ulmaceae 523 17 Phytolaccaceae 593 



9 Moraceae 527 18 Nyctaginaceae 594 



19 Aizoaceae 597 



It is incidentally to be regarded as for- 

 tunate that this arrangement brings be- 

 fore our students in the first volume those 

 families which are usually regarded as 

 most difiicult. By the aid of this volume, 

 any field-student or collector can, during 

 the coming months, and before the ap- 

 pearance of the remaining volumes, be- 

 come fairly well-acquainted with the 

 representatives of these difficult groups 

 which are afforded by his locality. 



The work will doubtless be assailed by 

 a certain class because of the narrowness 

 with which the species-limits have been 

 drawn. On this subject it may be well 

 to quote the authors, ' ' The present ten- 

 dency of expert opinion is to separate 

 more freely into convenient natural 

 groups, as genera and families, according 

 to similarity and structure, habit, form 



or appearance." (Introduction, p. v). 

 To this may be added the statement that 

 the tendency to unite species is mani- 

 fested rather by those who act as editors, 

 that to separate them, by those who pur- 

 sue special studies. In the performance 

 of this portion of the work. Dr. Britten 

 has been exceptionally well-situated. 

 During the six years that this work has 

 been under way he has been surrounded 

 by a large and energetic group of work- 

 ers, trained and held together largely 

 through the influence of The Torrey 

 Botanical Club. These men and women 

 have gladly undertaken from time to 

 time the investigation of difficult or of 

 poorly-known groups, and they have 

 almost without exception brought to 

 bear upon their work every modern 

 method of research. This period has 

 been noted further for great activity in 

 similar work throughout the country. 

 An unusual amount of material in the 

 way of field-notes has also been recently 

 accumulated, a large part of it directly in 

 the interest of this work. All this ma- 

 terial has been assiduously studied. 

 Although some of the cases of species- 

 division appear surprising, yet in view of 

 the minuteness with which the authors 

 have conducted their studies, it may 

 well be that such criticisms as shall be 

 made will possess the demerit of being 

 based upon a lower degree of scrutiny 

 than the determinations themselves. 



That the possibility of determining a 

 plant by merely turning to a figure may 

 induce habits of superficiality, is perhaps, 

 true, though hardly so in case of such a 

 work as this. Even in case of those frag- 

 mentary illustrated works which may be 

 regarded solely or chiefly in the light of 

 picture-books, it is doubtful if the habits 

 of observation and comparison induced 

 and developed are not of more importance 

 than the habits of superficiality ; but in 

 the present case every influence tends to 



