188 



could never quite decide on which horn of the dilemma we cared 

 to be impaled. That some of these changes have been drastic 

 will be seen from the following list of family names, culled at 

 random, that appear for the first time in the Illustrated Flora: 

 Aesculaceae, Alsinaceae, Cacombaceae, Cannabinaceae, Corri- 

 giolaceae, Lobeliaceae, Trilliaceae and Zannichelliaceae. There 

 are doubtless others and in the index both the old and new family 

 names have been indexed, so that those unfamiliar with these 

 new designations need not be confused. 



The same policy has been followed in the subdivision of exist- 

 ing genera, but these changes are too numerous to mention here. 

 Wherever, for the sake of accuracy of characterization or uni- 

 fication of more or less constituent subgeneric groups, the 

 authors have seen an opportunity to divide such groups, they 

 have done so. 



This is not the time, or is a review the place for any lengthy 

 discussion of that spectre of modern taxonomy, nomenclature. 

 Of course, the present authors have steadfastly followed the code 

 of which Dr. Britton has for many years been the chief exponent. 

 Fourteen years of adherence to this system, aided by a con- 

 stantly increasing library and collection and the constant "nail- 

 ing" of old types, must result in many changes. These are 

 unfamiliar to most of us who have not the opportunity or the 

 highly specialized training necessary for work of this sort. Such 

 changes, and there are many in the present work, will be greeted 

 with enthusiasm by those who appreciate the ideal that has 

 generated them, and with something like consternation by that 

 large class of stand-patters who prefer conservatism to a policy 

 that "may seem to some to be too radical."* 



For the reasons outlined above, — the tendency to split into 

 smaller generic and family units, the strict adherence to the 

 principles of nomenclature now too well known to need further 

 discussion, the fixing of generic and specific types, and above 

 all, the access to a splendid library, — all these have necessitated 

 many changes in names. In the following list the reviewer has 

 attempted to give changes in generic names, that differ in the 



* See Introduction, Vol. i, p. vi. 



