IV 
INTRODUCTORY REMARKS. 
correct names for their collections. To assist in remedying 
this complaint, I have been induced to draw up a Cata- 
logue of the Ferns cultivated in this country, the greater 
number of which are now in the Boyal Botanic Gardens 
at Kew : but as new introductions are frequent, a few 
have come to my knowledge since the first sheets of the 
present Work were printed, and are consequently not in 
this enumeration. I have also omitted several names that 
have recently appeared in nurserymen’s catalogues, not 
having sufficient evidence before me to warrant the adop- 
tion of them either as distinct species or as synonyms. The 
small size of the book does not permit me to give descrip- 
tions of the species ; but, in order to assist in referring spe- 
cies to their respective genera, I have given the general 
characters of each genus, and also a few of the principal 
synonyms, with references to one or more published 
figures, and the native country of each species. 
In defining and classifying the genera, I have, with some 
modifications, followed the system proposed by me in 
4 Hooker’s Journal of Botany/ 1841 and 1842. Since then 
further observations have led me to regard the different 
modes of growth {vernation) and general habit as afford- 
ing important auxiliary characters for assisting in defining 
affinities. More natural alliances can be formed by these 
means than by adhering strictly to technical characters 
derived solely from the organs of fructification, which 
hitherto, as with flowering plants, have afforded the prin- 
