Ill some of the more intricate genera, as Movurda,, 

 Foccmium, Andromeda, Sulix, &;c. the specific charac- 

 t<}rs have been extended to a rather unusual length, 

 Avhich maybe objected to by some, but I am persuaded 

 will be approved of by most. The beauty of a short 

 and perspicuous character is without doubt preferable 

 to a long one, which the more it is extended the more 

 ambiguous it will become ; but the nature of certain 

 genera will absolutely not admit this conciseness, and 

 the works of some of the most celebrated authors 

 have lately proved that it is inconvenient to be limited 

 by a certain number of words in forming the specific 

 character- Among many others I only need to mention 

 WiIkleiio\v's last vohmie of the Species Plantarum, par- 

 ticularly tb.e genus Aspid'mm., and Mr. Robert Brown's 

 excellent "Treatise on the Proteaceae," in the tenth vo^ 

 lume of the Transactions of the Linnean Society. In 

 both these works examples will be found, where the 

 length of the specific character equals if not exceeds in 

 number of v/ords the longest in the present work. 



It would have been needless to encumber the work 

 with a superfluous number of snionyms, which can be 

 found in the authors referred to ; but those of a late date, 

 or any way illustrative toward the true determination of 

 the species, have tjeen carefiiUycollected, as the means I 

 was pos^.essed of were particularly favourable to the as- 

 certainment of those points, which may be of the high- 

 est utility to future publications on the same subject. 



In respect to the figures referred to, care has been 

 taken to quote tlie most correct whenever there was a 

 choice. The plates whicli accompany the work have 



