vii 
the northeastern sections of our country, it is to be borne in mind 
that there are very few plants in this list which do not occur in the 
Middle states ; in fact there are only twenty-five others in the whole 
Gray’s Manual range. 
It is hoped that the remarks on the literature of our subject 
will render this little book suggestive to beginners for whom this 
work is mainly intended, although perhaps even the life-long stu- 
dent may glean something from its pages. 
The term frond as applied to ferns, is often used both by bo- 
tanical writers and in ordinary conversation, to include both stalk 
and leafy portion, At other times it is evidently the leafy part 
alone which is referred to. As it is very desirable that the term 
should not be thus loosely applied, the frond is here considered to 
comprise both stipe and blade, the blade being dlstinguised by the 
term lamina, first used in this sense we believe by Mr. George E. 
Davenport. 
The arrangement of orders and families, and also the species 
numbers here given, are the same as in the “ The Pteridophyta of 
North America North of Mexico,” or No. 9 of the Linnxin FernBul- 
letin .” 
The accented syllable of all generic and specific names occur- 
ring in the succeeding pages has been designated, the grave ac- 
cent v denoting the full long sound of the vowel and the acute ac- 
cent ' the short sound. The Italian method of Latin pronunci- 
ation has not been generally introduced into botanical nomencla- 
ture, although it has been in use in the schools of some sections of 
the country for many years. There are consequently in common 
use two methods of pronouncing Greek and Latin words. The fol- 
lowing rules are given with a view of making more familiar the 
older, and in biology the method generally accepted among Eng- 
lish speaking people. A word has as many syllables as it has 
vowels and dipthongs; but in the construction of words derived 
from personal names, the name is given a Latin termination, the 
pronunciation remaining otherwise unchanged, as in Eatoni. A at 
