PREFACE. 



In the annual address to my subscribers at the close of 1848, I 

 expressed my willingness to increase the monthly quota of letter-press 

 without any additional charge, provided my contributors would send 

 a greater amount of communications : the result, however, has shown 

 that the usual thirty-two pages has sufficed without delaying a single 

 contribution ; and consequently there has been no necessity for car- 

 rying out the project. Another mode of adding to the value of the 

 1 Phytologist ' has been suggested by a friend, and I feel confident it 

 will give satisfaction to my subscribers : it is to publish, without any 

 additional charge, a carefully engraved figure of every newly-disco- 

 vered British species. On an average the annual increase of species, 

 exclusively of the genera Rubus, Rosa and Salix, which I totally 

 exclude from my proposition, may be taken at a fraction less than 

 four, and the cost of four engravings does not present any material 

 obstacle ; indeed, were the expense greater than I ought to incur, I 

 feel confident that several of my friends will be willing to afford 

 pecuniary assistance. I therefore beg to announce that from the pre- 

 sent time I shall be happy to give a finished figure of every new plant 

 that may be discovered : a few conditions must, however, be observed. 



First. Specimens must be submitted to a competent botanist for 

 his decision as to the name, distinctness and novelty of the species : 

 Mr. Borrer, Mr. Watson, or Mr. Wilson, of Warrington, occur to me 

 as unexceptionable referees, and I trust neither of these gentlemen 

 will hesitate to lend their assistance. 



Secondly. Perfect specimens of the plant must be sent to the her- 



