8 
valuable work ; but had he even had a knowledge of 
it, it is probable that the circumstances of its being 
written in French, classed naturally, and often destitute 
of accurate botanical names, would have been con¬ 
sidered by him as sufficient grounds for his neglect, 
since he has been pleased to neglect other descrip¬ 
tions of plants wrote in English and well named. 
Considering, therefore, that a revisal and translation 
of Robin’s Flora, might be a desirable addition to 
Pursh’s Flora, and our knowledge of North American 
Botany, I have undertaken this task, which has, in 
many instances, proved an arduous one, owing to the 
numerous misnames and errors of the author, who 
does not appear to have been a professed Botanist, 
but a mere observer and collector ; his observations 
and descriptions are, however, generally accurate, 
which is proved by his descriptions of well known 
plants. I have preserved, throughout, the classifica¬ 
tion of Jussieu, adopted by Robin, and the order in 
which he has enumerated his plants, adding merely 
numbers to each ; this conformity has appeared to me 
desirable, in order to facilitate a comparison of our 
different labours, and to show at once many of Robin’s 
mistakes: I was, however, inclined to change the whole 
classification of this Flora, and adopt my improved 
natural arrangement, but as this would have overset 
altogether the plan of Robin, I was induced to prefer 
the actual order. 
The nomenclature of the whole Flora has been 
new modelled and accurately fixed, so far as Robin’s 
descriptions would allow ; for in some instances he 
has not described the plants he mentions, and in some 
