rilEEACE. 
The following pages were originally written for^ and are 
now published at the request of, the Author’s pupils. 
The object which the Compilatiou is intended to fulfil is to 
afford to students commencing the study of Botanical Classifi- 
cation a concise, simple, and systematic guide to the Diagnosis 
of our British Natural Orders. 
Ill the selection of diagnostic data, reference has been had 
rather to facility of recognition than to morphological signifi- 
cance, and, as the Work is merely designed for practical analysis 
in the field, ahiiost all matter has been excluded which is not 
essemtial for the 2)>-<->'2'>oses of diagnosis. It should be borne in 
mind that the characteristics specified as pertaining to Orders 
are not always without exception, and in some cases are apioli- 
rahle oiilg to British regrrescntatiues. The attention of beginners 
should also be directed to the fact that in the following System, 
as in all methods of Artificial Analysis, the Orders are not 
arranged according to their Natural Afinities, in some cases 
Orders being placed in apposition which should be widely 
separated, and vice versa. 
Inasmuch as it is presumed that no student will commence 
the study of Systematic Botany without having previously 
mastered the outlines of Morphology, technicalities have been 
freely used throughout the Work.* 
* It ia necessary to state that in the following pages the term FohjcarpcUarji 
signifies an ovary conqjosed of more than one carpel ; Flnrdondar, tlic existence 
of more than two ceils ; rohjaialrous, a greater number of stamens than ten ; 
ami Ofigundroia, ten or fewer stamens. 
