58 ON GENERA AND SPECIES. 



time of the publication of the '* Synopsis," is stated to con- 

 tain 50,000 specimens of Ferns, representing the many 

 different states of the species therein described. 



As might be expected from a new writer on Ferns, 

 many changes have been made in the nomenclature and 

 synonyms, as given in the '* Species Filicum," there being 

 no less than fifty of the names in the " Synopsis" having 

 Mr. Baker's initials prefixed, which is principally con- 

 sequent on his having removed species from one genus to 

 another, and in many cases giving new specific names, as 

 also by the addition of a considerable number of new 

 species. 



I have already noticed that in the " Species Filicum " 

 species of very distinct habits and characters are placed in 

 the same genus ; of this there are several remarkable 

 new examples in the " Synopsis," the most conspicuous of 

 which will be found noticed under the respective genera in 

 my general arrangement. 



In December, 1874, a second edition of the " Synopsis " 

 was published, containing an Appendix to the first edition 

 prepared by Mr. Baker, regarding which he 'says " I have 

 endeavoured in this edition to briefly characterize and fit 

 into their places the new discoveries and the plants found 

 upon fuller information to have been inadequately dealt 

 with in the first." This Appendix contains the names of 

 438 species, 198 of which bear the initials of Mr. Baker ; 

 the principal authorities for the others being Mettenius, 

 Klotzsch, Karstein, Grisebach, Moore, and Kuhn ; with the 

 exception of about twenty, the whole are additions to the 

 2,228 described in the first edition of the " Synopsis;" thus 

 on the authority of that work the total number of known 

 species of Ferns amounts to 2,646. 



Whether the above number is represented by truly dis- 



