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PREFACE. 



The work here offered to the public on the Grasses of Scotland is 

 designed to afford to the student of this difficult department of Bo- 

 tany, assistance of a more available kind than the treatises in ge- 

 neral use attempt to supply. In most other respects it proceeds on 

 the established plan of works of the same description. 



Much attention has been bestowed on the definitions both of gene- 

 ra and species. In some instances new genera have been framed, and 

 a few new species have been added, while the specific characters are 

 determined throughout with the greatest possible care. 



The authorities for the species adopted, both British and foreign, 

 have been invariably cited. But no character has been taken on trust, 

 or has been admitted without careful examination to ascertain its 

 presence in every instance. And in the cases, (which are not few,) 

 where new characters have been substituted, their constancy has been 

 tested by the examination of at least one hundred specimens of each 

 species, obtained from various localities. 



In the description of each grass, the state of every individual part 

 has been carefully set down, so that, on the comparison of any two 

 descriptions, the several differences between the species inspected will 

 be at once apparent. And in addition to this assistance, an endeavour 

 has been made to point out the most prominent diagnostic marks be- 

 tween those species which are most liable to be confounded. 



Of each species a figure has been given. In every instance these 

 figures have been drawn and engraved by the author ; and though 



