PREFACE 
1 os 
Shortly before his death, which occurred unexpectedly in Hei- 
delberg, Germany, on the 13" of July, 1886, Dr. Hillebrand had 
placed part of the manuscript of his Flora of the Hawaiian 
Islands in the hands of the printer, and the first few pages of 
proof had already been corrected. 
No directions having been left it devolved upon his family 
to decide how best to continue the publication. The manuscript 
of the descriptive portion of the Flora was supposed to be com- 
plete, and as Professor E. Askenasy, of Heidelberg, had most 
kindly expressed a willingness to assist in the correction of the 
proof-sheets from the point of view of the botanist it was decided 
that the task of seeing the work through the press should 
devolve upon myself. This responsibility I assumed with many 
misgivings, feeling far from competent to carry the work to a 
successful issue; and that these misgivings were well founded was 
soon made manifest when, fairly entered upon the work, the 
true nature of the task became fully apparent. The difficulty 
was increased by the impossibility of communicating satisfactorily 
with the publishers in regard to many matters of detail, owing 
to the length of time required for the transmittal of letters 
twice across the Atlantic. To this fact is due likewise, in great 
measure, the delay in publication. 
To no one who may study the volume can there be cause for 
greater regret than to myself that the author did not live to 
correct the proof-sheets. The tortures of a painful illness during 
the last two years of his life necessarily produced results which 
