AUTHOE'S PEEFACE. 



When, nearly five years ago, I began a general consideration of 

 the Cretaceous flora, at tlie request of the British Museura, 

 I discovered that the task could make no progress until a list 

 of the material had been compiled. The literature dealing 

 ■with Cretaceous plants was widely scattered and had never 

 been brought together and sifted, and there was no standard 

 work to which reference could be made to place the innumerable 

 names which have been published. Consequently, I tirst 

 endeavoured to compile a list, as nearly complete as possible, 

 of all the Cretaceous species originally described. This list 

 proved immensely greater than was anticipated, and bulks 

 largely in the present volume. As my own work would have 

 been impossible without it, I trust it may prove useful to others ; 

 and therefore propose to mention a few points in explanation 

 of its apparent lack of uniformity and its arbitrariness. 



In the first place, while including the American Lower 

 Cretaceous species, the list does not take account of most of 

 the European Vealden species. This is not my own choice, but 

 depends on the fact that in this series of Museum Catalogues, 

 the "Wealden has been dealt with by Prof. Seward, and the 

 work allotted to me is to complete the Cretaceous, but to leave 

 out of consideration the parts covered by Prof. Seward's work. 



Secondly, anyone using the list will notice that the same 

 strata are mentioned under diflFerent names, and that the most 

 recent' stratigraphical nonienclature is seldom used. This is 



