SA ‘ON GENERA AND SPECIES, 
vernation, followed by that of the fronds and venation, and 
ending with the form and position of the sori and indusium 
when present, 
As regards synonyms of both genera and species, I have 
in the preceding pages shown that they may be termed 
legion, the number of generic names being above 500. To ` 
quote all or any considerable number of them, would be ` 
the means of making this book much larger than desirable, 
and add much to confuse students and dismay them from ` 
studying Ferns. 
To each genus I have given its authority and date, fol- 
lowed by its principal synonyms and reference to the genus 
under which the species stand in Sir William Hooker's E 
“Species Filicum;” and for their identification I have 
deemed it sufficient to quote the figures in Hooker and — 
Bauer's “Genera Filicum,” the “Synopsis Filicum." ` 
Moore's “Index Filicum," and my “Ferns, British and 
Foreign." These, with plates in this work illustrating the - 
tribes and genera, and with the observations under each ` 
genus, will, I trust, be sufficient to convey to the student of ` 
Ferns a knowledge of their nature and the data upon which | 
they are classified. 
With regard to species, when few in a genus I have 
| quoted the whole, and for examples of the large genera 
[have quoted the principal and best known species; in ` 
several eases for their identification I have referred to 
figures in different works. 
I have already shown that it is the rule to retain the 
original specific name of a species under whatever genus 
it may be placed by succeeding authors; some writers, 
however, in arranging them under different genera affix 
their initials to the specific name, from which it often 
‘appears as thongh the species were new and named and 
