PREFACE 



When addressing the readers of the ' Phytologist ' at the close of 

 last year, I took occasion to congratulate the botanists of this country 

 on the extent and variety of their periodical literature. At that time 

 every little coterie of botanists seemed to possess its exclusive organ 

 for interchange of sentiment among its members. While penning my 

 observations, — while commending the industry and disinterested love of 

 science which prompted and maintained so goodly an array of jour- 

 nals, — I little thought that some of them had already ceased to exist, 

 and that others had practically, if not theoretically, excluded botany 

 from their pages. It is worthy of notice, as indicating the restricted 

 circulation of these journals, that no appreciable difference in the sale 

 of the ' Phytologist' occurred, either on their commencement or their 

 cessation. It must not, however, for a moment be supposed that I 

 am undervaluing these journals : they contained a number of papers 

 not only of interest, but of value ; and right glad should I have been 

 to have inserted them in these pages. I am persuaded it would be 

 regarded as a great boon by the reading and purchasing botanists of 

 Great Britain, if the working and publishing botanists would hence- 

 forth confine their contributions to this journal, because then a mode- 

 rate subscription would put the readers in possession of the current 

 information of the day. I consider the present time, when there can 

 scarcely be said to be any competing journal, the most suitable one 

 for making these observations ; and I trust that their propriety will 

 be admitted by every subscriber to the ' Phytologist.' The increase 

 in the number of contributors and of contributions, during the cur- 

 rent year, is very marked, and indicates a movement in the desired 

 direction. 



