vi PEEFACE. 



an expression of his wish, that the present editors should take up and 

 complete the work which filled so large a place in his thoughts 

 towards the close of his life. Obedience to a wish so expressed 

 was for us a simple duty, and we undertook its discharge all the 

 more cheerfully, as we felt that the close intimacy which we had 

 enjoyed with our friend in his latter years had given us a fuller 

 acquaintance with his views than was possessed by other Irish 

 botanists. 



In carrying on the work to its conclusion it has been our aim to 

 give full effect to these views so far as they are known to us. Out- 

 side the limits so set, we have freely exercised our own judgment, 

 with the result that several innovations have been introduced. As 

 gome of these may give rise to unfavourable criticism, it seems only 

 just that we should mention them here, and accept full responsibility 

 for them. The more important of these new features, many of 

 which wiU be further explained in the Introduction, fall under nine 

 headings : — (1) Ee-arrangement of the orders, genera, and species 

 in accordance with the sequence adopted in the ninth edition of the 

 London Catalogue, 1895 ; (2) Extension of the scope of the work so 

 as to include the Characem; (3) The use of Eoman numerals to 

 denote the districts ; (4) Eeferenee to the soil-relations of plants 

 where well-marked ; (5) Systematic indication of the sources whence 

 previously published records are drawn ; (6) Vertical ranges of all 

 species not distinctly lowland ; (7) Introduction of the more widely 

 current Irish plant-names ; (8) The relegation to one comprehensive 

 appendix of all plants not entitled to a place in the body of the 

 work ; and (9) The inclusion in a single index of the scientifi.c names, 

 synonyms and trivial names of all plants referred to. Eor the revi- 

 sion of the nomenclature, too, we accept responsibility, as well as 

 for the expansion and re-casting of the Introduction. 



Some of these innovations, and notably that which deals with 

 the citation of previously published records, have added seriously to 

 the labour of digesting the large mass of material accumulated by 

 the researches of a whole generation of Irish botanists ; and the 

 result has been to delay for upwards of two yeai-s the completion of 

 a work which could only be taken up in our leisure hours. But this 



