PREFACE. 



liai)dbooks are like watches: the worst 

 is better than none, and the Lest cannol 

 be expected to go quite true. 



Dr. Johnson. — (Variant). 



When acting for some few years as an Assistant Curator at the Buiten- 

 zorg Herbarium I was directed to elaborate the non-detei'mined fern-material 

 of the Malay Archipelago. Malayan Ferns have much been written about in 

 handbooks and periodicals, but seeing no work exists treating with them 

 more particularly I resolved to collect all available descriptions in one volume. 

 Originally my intention was to do so for my private use, but it occurred to 

 me that publication of this compilation might prove to be of some value to 

 those interested in the Malayan Perns. Moreover the Director of the Agricul- 

 tural Department in Netherlands India, Prof. Dr. M. Treub, desired the work 

 to be printed. 



The descriptions are taken from various sources and have been compar- 

 ed with living or dried material if on hand in the Buitenzorg Botanical 

 Gardens or in the Herbarium. Those thus controlled and more or less modified 

 if necessary are marked with an asterisk. I used in the first place Raciborski's 

 Die Pleridophylen der Flora von Buitenzorg and in the second Hooker & Baker's 

 Synopsis Fflicum, the works my studies in pteridology are founded upon and 

 only in cases where these books could not provide me with such information 

 as required I had recourse to other sources, principally Christ's Die Farnkrdu- 

 ter der Erde, Beddome's Handbook to the Ferns of British India and Copeland's 

 The Polypodiaceae of the Philippine Islands. Thence specific names and synonyms 

 are not followed by an exhaustive and somewhat unnecessary list of old sources, 

 but in most eases only by one or at the utmost two of the newer sources 

 consulted. Likewise enumeration of synonyms has been limited as much as 

 possible. Those desirous to have further particulars on the subject should 

 consult Christensen's Index Filicum. 



A deBnite time being fixed for the completion of the work, I saw myself 



