XXXVI INTRODUCTION. 



publications for them, equally as done by the writer of this 

 book. Usually, the personal witnesses, as cited by surnames 

 herein, will be amply sufficient to shew and prove the true 

 area of distribution apart from undue extension through errors, 

 or through reprehensible efforts to represent artificial habitats 

 as natural or indigenous ones. 



References to books are advisedly omitted. The quarter line 

 of space, available after the name of county, will commonly 

 suffice for the citation of a single surname ; although the same 

 short space would prove insufficient for surnames accompanied 

 by book references in extenso ; for instance, such references 

 as these : 



Hiern, in Jour. Bot. vol. iii. p. 328. 



Hemsley, in Jour. Bot. vol. vii. p. 263. 



Forster, in Jour. Bot. 1867, p. 76 [73] . 



Wintle, in Jour. Bot. 1867, p. 279. 



Gibson, in Jour. Bot. vol. vi. p. 319. 



Unfortunately, a foolish declaration has been set forth in the 

 Journal of Botany (partly under the editorial control of Mr. 

 J. G. Baker) that citations of books more abbreviated than 

 above shewn are insufficient for botanical service. Thus, in 

 the present case, where only a quarter line or less is available, 

 the guilt of " insufficiently " quoting must be avoided by the 

 counter rule of not quoting journals or other books at all ; 

 resting content with those surnames only, which are uncon- 

 nected with volumes and pages. 



If this present work should attain an enduring completeness, 

 some botanists of the future will find out more practically than 

 gratefully, through these advised omissions, that abbreviated 

 citations of authorities might have usefully subserved one 

 purpose, say, that of simply showing an authority, although 

 not so full or lengthened as to subserve also every other possible 

 purpose for which quotations might be made available, if made 

 under the condition of unlimited space for them to be printed 

 in extenso. The narrow-mindedness and the short-sightedness 



