lujlLltRARYJ^, 



PREFACE. ^v^^fi^e^^ 





Having received many hints that an annual Index would be accep- 

 table to my readers, and an annual tome more convenient than the 

 bulky one which was concluded in 1844, I have unhesitatingly com- 

 plied, and propose in future to bind each twelve numbers separately, 

 although the pages will for some time be continuous. All the papers 

 published prior to the close of 1844 may be referred to, as in Volume 

 I., and all since that date, and until further notice, as in Volume II. 



I believe botanists throughout the kingdom will bear testimony to 

 the increased value of the present Volume. The ' Phytologist ' has 

 now become, what I have always wished it to be, the medium through 

 which all our British botanists communicate with the public. It is 

 true a few papers on British Botany still find their way into print 

 through other channels, but when this is the case I consider it an 

 imperative duty to notice them in these pages, giving an abstract of 

 anything that I esteem worthy of preservation, and thus I endeavour 

 to make the 'Phytologist' a complete register of the Botany of Britain. 

 The subject of British Botany is comparatively so limited, that a 

 single periodical, of moderate size, trifling cost, and very humble 

 appearance and pretensions, is quite sufficient to embrace the whole, 

 and while I hope never uncourteously to reject contributions on 

 foreign Botany, I wish my contributors to understand, that my desire 

 is to give a decided preference to that of our own country. 



I beg to acknowledge with gratitude the strenuous support and 

 assistance I have received during the year, which is now drawing to 

 a close : it has been peculiarly marked by the expression of good 

 will towards this undertaking ; and, though I have generally judged 



