PREFACE. 



It is with unusual pleasure that I offer ray annual address to the 

 readers of the ' Phy tologist.' Fully aware of the cordial good feeling 

 that exists among British botanists towards .this journal, I am confi- 

 dent they will receive with satisfaction the announcement that the 

 sale has considerably increased : the amount produced by the sale 

 during the half-year ending the 30th June, exceeded that of any pre- 

 vious half-year ; and I learn, although the accounts are not yet made 

 up, that the half-year ending the 31st December is likely to exhibit a 

 still further increase. This satisfactory state as regards finance is 

 accompanied by one equally satisfactory as regards contributions : 

 these have been so numerous as to compel me to publish a third 

 sheet on two occasions, making forty-eight pages instead of thirty- 

 two. I hope this abundance of matter will still continue to flow in, 

 as I shall never object to the extra cost of printing : indeed, if the 

 press of matter required it, I should have great pleasure in seeing the 

 work permanently enlarged, for I cannot shut my eyes to the fact that 

 the present price of the ' Phytologist ' will not bear comparison with 

 that of the popular periodical literature of the day ; and can only be 

 justified by a reference to the extremely limited section of the reading 

 public that feels an interest in the annals of British Botany ; and 

 when the purchasers are few the charge must be comparatively high. 



The papers have been rather of a general than particular character, 

 and the additions made to our botanical knowledge greater than those 

 to our list of species. Among the former I need scarcely remind the 

 reader of Dr. Planchon's admirable paper on Ulmus (Phytol. iii. 34), 

 Mr. Watson's on two allied species of Malva (iii. 221), on the Filago 

 germanica of Linneus (iii. 313), &c, and Dr. Bromfield's on the 



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