6 ADDRESS OF THE EDITOR. [January, 



aud December, with distinct pagination : thus making each an- 

 nual part complete by itself. New subscribers will not, as here- 

 tofore, have to purchase so many back numbers, in order to 

 complete their volumes. They may however bind up in one 

 volume as many of these twelvemonths' issues as they please. 

 They will be supplied with a title, index, etc., to each yearly 

 portion. If our subscribers offer no objection to this plan, it 

 will be adopted, aud carried out henceforth. 



Courteous hints have reached us that the philological matter 

 which occasionally fills up a small portion of our space is not 

 precisely the matter which is expected in a journal expressly de- 

 voted to scientific objects. This is partly true; our readers are 

 Botanists ; some of them are Philologists also. Where are our 

 correspondents to seek for information about the names of plants 

 and the etymology of the current nomenclature ? In botanical 

 dictionaries and catalogues ? These are very useful ; but they 

 do not always afford what is wanted. Others recommend sending 

 all such inquiries to the ' Notes and Queries.' Many questions 

 discussed in the ' Phytologist' would be quite as suitable to these 

 learned pages as to ours, but this would entail upon the ques- 

 tioners an additional charge. Besides, botanical queries are often 

 neglected in that useful journal. There may be several readers 

 of our publication wlio have not Paxton's ' Botanical Dictionary' 

 on their shelves ; and if they had, it would often fail to give what 

 is wanted, as many new names have been introduced and have 

 become current since it was published. 



The Editor of the ' Phytologist' hopes that no reader will 

 hesitate to ask his help, either about the identification of species 

 or etymological difficulties. He will do his best to help all who 

 have exhausted their own means of determining doubtful ques- 

 tions. He knows that every botanist is not provided with an 

 extensive library of books for reference. Those who are well 

 supplied with good works on nomenclature and descriptive 

 botany, will not ask questions which they could themselves an- 

 swer. We promise to economize our space as much as possible, 

 but mean still to answer all fair questions to the best of our 

 ability. 



A friend has reminded us that there is no English dictionary 

 extant which gives the right names to our common plants ; or 

 rather, there is none which gives the proper scientific term, cor- 



