THE late Mr Charles Baron Clarke, F.R.S., who died at Kew 

 on the 25th August 1906, left behind him an unpublished 

 monograph of the Cyperaceae, a family to which he had devoted 

 a large amount of time during the last twenty^-five years of his 

 life. The manuscript proved, on examination, too extensive for 

 immediate publication, but excerpts of his descriptions of new 

 genera and species were published in September last, in the 

 Bulletin of Miscellaneous Information, Additional Series, viii. 

 To these descriptions was added a skeleton of the arrangement 

 adopted by the Author, showing his subdivisions of genera, and 

 the species grouped under each subdivision, followed by an 

 index. 



Although this publication gives a very fair idea of Mr 

 Clarke's monograph, it necessarily excludes all synonymy and 

 geographical details, and for these particulars reference must be 

 made to the manuscript, preserved at Kew, and in the same 

 sequence as the skeleton previously mentioned. But although 

 it is not possible to give the full text of the Author to the 

 scientific world, there is yet another portion of great value which 

 is here issued. The present series of 144 plates was prepared 

 many years ago, when the Author had determined not only 

 upon his plan of arrangement, but also the representative and 

 typical species in each genus. They were drawn by various 

 artists, such as Mr N. E. Brown, A.L.S., Miss Matilda Smith, 

 and Mr Charles Fitch ; the greater part were reproduced by the 

 collotype method, but some were lithographed. It is somewhat 

 unfortunate that the sheets as printed do not admit of being 

 readily bound, but have to be cut separately and then stitched. 

 It will be noticed that each plate has a separate explanatory 

 leaf of text facing it, to supply information concerning the 

 figures, and of the specimens from which they were derived. 

 It will thus be seen that the plates are authoritative, and form 





