EDITOR'S PREFACE. ix 



The number of Orders adopted in this work greatly exceeds that which 

 will be adopted by Mr. Bentham and myself in the ' Genera Plantarum,' or 

 than is accepted by Professor Asa Gray, and most modern systematists: 

 many of them are not in our opinion entitled to that rank, being rather 

 to be regarded as tribes or aberrant genera of larger Orders. A multiplica- 

 tion of these is, however, in a work of this description far from a great evil : 

 it enables the student to form a clearer idea of the essential characters of 

 the more important Orders, from which the lesser are departures ; and it 

 affords the opportunity of illustrating more copiously many structural and 

 physiological matters of high importance. It will be observed that the 

 authors have been scrupulously careful in indicating the very slender pre- 

 tensions that many of these lesser groups have to ordinal rank, and in 

 pointing out their affinities. 



\ 



In dealing with the Introduction to Botany, p. 1, the Translator has 

 had much difficulty. In point of style, a literal translation of the original 

 was inadmissible ; its copiousness of expression and repetitions of adjective 

 terms, however suited to French, are obstacles to English students, who 

 associate clearness with a concise, rather than with a more diffuse method 

 of exposition. The Translator has therefore condensed the matter of this 

 part of the work it is to be hoped, without loss of sense or substance ; and 

 the space gained has been devoted to those additions to the Systematic 

 portion which are enumerated above. 



It will be obvious to the English reader, that it has not been the aim of 

 the Authors to give an exhaustive history of the Natural Orders : what they 

 have given is a clear and precise structural and morphological account of each, 

 with a sketch of its affinities, geographical distribution, and principal uses in 

 medicine and the arts ; and in this, I think, they have succeeded to a degree 

 not attained in any previous work of the kind. On the extent and utility of 

 the Illustrations there is no need to dwell ; but it is only my duty to one of 

 the Authors to state (which does not appear in the original) that their great 

 value is due to the use made of my friend M. Decaisne's unique collection of 

 analytical drawings, the fruits of his life-long botanical labours, and which 

 for scientific accuracy and artistic excellence have never been surpassed. 



