ABOUT 2000 new plant names having been published since the 
first edition of this Catalogue was issued in March, 1898, the time 
seems ripe for a second edition. The aim of the author has been to 
inmake it as near complete and perfect as possible, and with this end in 
view, more labor and expense has been put upon it than is usual in 
a publication of this class. 
The page is printed upon one side only, giving space for the 
insertion of new names, which are constantly being added. Larger 
type has been used, which will be appreciated by many, and the 
press work is of the best. The “ Pluck Art Printery,” where our 
press-work is done, has the reputation of putting out nothing but the 
finest kind of work. 
The intention was to number the genera throughout according 
to their sequence in Engler & Prantl’s ‘“‘Naturlichen Pflanzenfam- 
ilien,”’ as set forth by Drs. Torre and Harms, in their ‘‘ Genera Siph- 
onogamarum.” The first fascicle only of this latter work had ap- 
peared when the Catalogue was begun, the last available number in 
it being Iris 1264. From that point on the calculations were made 
direct from Engler & Prantl, where the number of the genus in the 
fainily is given, but not the total number in the sequence. In some 
way a miscount occurred, as at once became evident when fascicle 2 
of the “Genera” arrived. ‘The numbering was at once discontinued, 
and all numbers after Nemastylis 1274 should be ignored, as they 
are not correct. 
The author supposed that the universal acceptance of the change 
from the obsolete arrangement of Bentham & Hooker to the more 
rational one of Engler & Prantl was understood by all, but a com- 
plaint that the position of the families was reversed in the first edi- 
tion, seems to call for this remark. 
Instead of repeating the abbreviation var. before each varietal 
name, the name is set further back under the species. 
The almost unanimous demand for a natural arrangement by 
those who answered my circular, sent out early in the year, led to the 
abandonment of the alphabetical arrangement of the first edition, and 
the adoption throughout of the Engler & Prantl sequence for families 
