PREFACE. 



THE "Botanical Atlas" is carried out on the same plan as the "Biological" and "Zoological" Atlases, 

 which have been so favourably received. There are several improvements, however, introduced, which it is hoped 

 the student will appreciate. The colour, for instance, is natural, so that every plant, or part of a plant, wears 

 its appropriate garb. The Life Histories of organisms, too, have received full recognition, and the student of 

 Animal Life will thus see that there is much in common between the two kingdoms. > 



The Cryptogams range from the simplest organisms which cause Disease or produce Alcohol, through Mushroom, 

 Seaweed, Lichen, Moss, Fern, Horse-Tail, and Club-Moss, ending with those which foreshadow the higher Seed-bearing 

 Plants. The microscope is here necessarily the principal instrument of research ; and in delineating minute objects requir- 

 ing the highest powers for their proper determination, I have been largely indebted to the labours of others. My thanks 

 are specially due to Professor Dodel-Port, who allowed me free and full use of the beautiful Figures in his "Anatomical 

 and Physiological Atlas of Botany," and even favoured me with other drawings to choose from, if necessary. 



The PHANEROGAMS are represented in all their leading divisions, and the various reproductive processes are fully 

 illustrated. Typical members are chosen from the principal Natural Orders, and the mode of examination pointed out. 

 The Flower and its various parts passing into Fruit and Seed are mainly considered, and this forms the best introduction 

 to a course of Practical Botany, since the eye and hand, trained to dissect and distinguish these comparatively conspicuous 

 structures, can then more easily pass to the study of the minute structure of Root, Shoot, and Leaf, and their various 

 modifications. 



As the specimens chosen are of the commonest kind — from the road-side, the sea-shore, the ponds, the meadows, and 

 the woods — and as full directions are given along with the drawing for their proper examination, this Atlas appeals to 

 every one who takes an interest in the various forms of Plant Life ; and as they are taken up in order, commencing with 

 the simplest and most uniform, and ending with the most complex, that general view of the whole field is given which is 

 the best preparation for dipping deeper into any department of it. 



D. M'ALPINE. 



April, 1883. 



