PREFACE. ix 



the late Eev. W. W. Newbould ; also those written to 

 the brilliant young naturalist of Shetland, T. Edmondston, 

 Esq., whose early death cut short a career of much 

 promise. In both the above instances the letters have 

 been destroyed. It was hoped that some written to 

 Herr Baron 'sir Ferdinand von Miiller, K.C.M.G. (Mel- 

 bourne, Australia) would have been included; he had 

 kindly promised to send them, but his sudden death on 

 Oct. 9th, 1896, has rendered it impossible to hope for 

 what he had himself said would be difficult to find. 

 There are other names amongst our botanists to whom 

 letters extending over many years were written, but 

 of which no trace can be found. The Editor is most 

 grateful to all who have aided in this search. Should it 

 happen that the publication of the letters included in 

 this volume may lead to the discovery of others of 

 equal interest to botanists, the Editor will only too gladly 

 take measures to render them as accessible as possible to 

 the class of readers who would welcome their appearance. 



No letters to foreign botanists are included (with 

 the exception of three inserted in an Appendix), for in 

 addition to the extreme difficulty of obtaining them, 

 owing in many cases to the impossibility of tracing the 

 representatives of these correspondents, it was felt that 

 their insertion — had they been attainable — might cause 

 the volume to exceed the limit in size which was deemed 

 desirable. The following are the names of some of the 

 leading foreign botanists who may be considered corres- 

 pondents : Elias Fries (Upsala), J. Lange (Copenhagen), 

 W. 0. Focke, M. F. Crepin (Brussels), H. Reichenbach, 

 0. Gelert, Jacques Etienne Gay, C. H. Schultz, F. Schultz, 

 J. Lloyd (Nantes), L. Eabenhorst, R. Lenormand, Renter^ 

 A. Jordan (Lyons), A. Huet de Pavilion, Ch. Grenier, 

 C. Billot, L'Abbe Questier, Philipp Wirtgen (Coblenz), 



