﻿PREFACE. VII 



The reason why the ferns found in Malacca (the Malay Peninsula), the 

 Philippines and New Guinea are inserted in this work on the ferns of the 

 Malay Archipelago is that in botany no strict limits may be expected to exist, 

 and fern-species growing closely outside geographical bouudai'ies may reasonably 

 be expected to be found inside these boundaries as well. 



In giving habitats I have confined myself to regions and not merely to 

 the places where the species are reported to have been found. By Malaya is 

 understood the entire territory this work is dealing with. The smaller islands, 

 if not treated of separately, are included in the nearest larger territory to 

 which they geographically belong. It will however not be advisable to adhere 

 too closely to the habitats given, seeing it is not at all impossible that species, 

 up till now found in one place only, may also be discovered elsewhere far 

 away from the present known place of origin. 



For this work the English language was chosen only in behalf of the 

 foreigners who visit these regions, seeing a book written in Dutch would be 

 useless to them. 



In conclusion I beg to tender my best thanks to all who assisted me 

 to render the completion of this work possible and especially to Mrs. H. 

 GuDE — Murray, who kindly undertook the grammatical correction of the work. 



BuiTEKzoRG, January 1908. v. A. v. R. 



