PEELIMINAEY NOTICE. 



The International Botanical CongresSj held in Paris from 

 August 16tlL to August 26tli, under the auspices of the 

 Botanical Society of France, was attended by about a hun- 

 dred and fifty botanists of different European nations, and 

 even by some few from America. 



I had the honour to lay before it a body of ' Laws of Bo- 

 tanical Nomenclature/ drawn up with the view of promoting 

 a systematic discussion, and printed a few days before in 

 Geneva. This wort, of which the Botanical Society had 

 taken a certain number of copies for distribution among the 

 members present, consisted of an introduction, of the laws 

 proposed for the regulation of nomenclature, and, lastly, of 

 a commentary, elucidating obscure points, or such as are 

 frequently subjects of debate amongst botanists and zoolo- 

 gists. 



The Congress decided on referring my project to a com- 

 mittee consisting of MM. Dumortier, President of the Bo- 

 tanical Society of Belgium, Cosson, Planchon senior, Eichler, 

 Bureau, Weddell, and myself. M. Boreau, of Angers, who 

 had likewise been nominated, was only able to attend the 

 fourth and last sitting. The articles were examined one by 

 one and I am happy to say that we agreed on almost all of 

 them. Where there was a divergence of opinion, which did 



