PEEFAOE. 



is preparing this Briefer Edition the attempt has been 

 made to present the essentials of modern botany in con- 

 siderably less diiScult language than has hitherto been 

 usual in books of this grade. Many of the terms now in 

 general use in the larger works are here anglicized, while 

 English names have very generally been given for plants 

 and plant-groups. 



The sequence of topics and the general mode of treat- 

 ment pursued in my larger work published in 1880 are 

 here followed, with such changes and modifications as are 

 demanded by the progress of the science since the original 

 manuscript left my hands. In many cases the paragraphs 

 have been carefully revised, while in others they have been 

 entirely re- written. 



I have thought it advisable to use the terms Zygophyta, 

 Oophyta, and Carpophyta, first proposed in the Ameeican 

 Natuealist in 1882 (Vol. XVI. p. 46), for the second, 

 third, and fourth Branches of the Vegetable Kingdom. 

 This has been done for the sake of securing uniformity in 

 nomenclature, as well as on account of the readiness with 

 which the new terms take the English form : thus we may 

 now speak of zygophytes, oophytes, and carpophytes, as 

 well as of protophytes, bryophytes, etc. 



In its use I would beg the teacher to bear in mind that 



