ES'TRODUCTION. V 



specimeus slionld supplemeut tJieir oiigiual desciiptious witli perfect materiaLs 

 iis soon as possible. 



As tliis volume is priucipally devoted to studies of tlie Orchidese and 

 Pteridophyta, a fow remarks ou tlie classii:cation upon which the two 

 families is based will not be out of place. lu working up my collectious of 

 orchids, I have priucipally followed Bentham aud Hookee, sometimes LrsDLEy, 

 KiNG aud Pantling, aud Pfitzek. As to the classification of Mouandrse- 

 AcrotouEe, many authorities do uot agree. "''Pfitzer's system wliich, takiug 

 iuto account whether the infloresceuce is termiual or lateral, distiugmshes 

 Acranthse and Pleurauthse, or, on the basis of the veruation of the 

 leaves being either convolutive or dupHcative, makes many divisions in tlie 

 above named ti-ibes, proved to be impracticable in working up my materials. 

 Moreover, I have found many doubtful cases, so far as inflorescence beiug 

 termiual or lateral is coucerned, and there ai'e even more cases iu which it 

 is impossible to determine whether the vemation of the leaves is dupHcative 

 or convohitive. ICiNG and Pantling's Orchids of the Sikkim Himalayas iu 

 Anu. Koy. Bot. Gard. Calc. Vol. VIH. and several other iUustrations giveu 

 iu the same Annals have been very useful to me in identifying aud com- 

 pariug my collectious of orchids. 



As to ferns and especially to the genus, Dnjopieris, I have followed 

 C. Chbistensen's system in his Index FiUciuu. His classification of the 

 subgenera of the genus** is based priucipaUy ou the preseuce or absence of 

 hairs aud on their stmctiu'es. This newly fouuded system is certaiuly oue of 

 the most natm-al aiTangements aud has proved to be easUy appUcable to 

 Formosan ferns. But, as far as Japauese and Formosan species are con- 

 cemed, there are a few cases in wlucli I can scarcely agi-ee with the author. 

 Some species which are taken by him as types of a subgenus do not show 

 tlie characters of the same subgeuus, after the deUmitation of the latter as 

 stated by him. For example, Dri/opteris Miqueliana (Max.) C. Ch. which is 

 taken as one of types of the subgeuus, Eudryopte^-is, wliich after Chbisten- 



* Pfitzek, E. — Ofchulaceai in Engleb u. Prantl, nat. Pfl. — fam. II-6, p. 76. 

 ** Chkistensen, C. — Ou a natural classificition of the species of Dryopteris, pp. 74-76, and a 

 monograph of the genus Dryopteris part-1, pp. 61-63. 



