Lanterna Rally

Author: William Jackson Hooker

Publisher:

Published: 2015-07-21

Total Pages: 604

ISBN-13: 9781331958642

Excerpt from Synopsis Filicum; Or, a Synopsis of All Known Ferns: Including the Osmundaceae, Schizaeaceae, Marattiaceae, and Ophioglossaceae (Chiefly Derived From the Kew Herbarium); Accompanied by Figures Representing the Essential Characters of Each Genus Whilst the sheet which terminates at page 48 was passing through the press, Sir W. Hooker's long career of botanical authorship was somewhat unexpectedly terminated by his death. This is not the place to enlarge upon the services which in many different ways he rendered to botanical science, or to do more than allude to the regret which will be felt by many who had waited for this long-planned work, that he was not spared to complete it. I need only say that having been honoured by Dr. Hooker with the request that I should carry it out, and having been entrusted by him with the manuscript notes prepared by his father, and the copy of the "Species Filicum" annotated in contemplation of this work, and having had full access to the specimens from which the descriptions in the "Species Filicum" were made, I have done my best to carry out this "Synopsis" to a conclusion in strict accordance with the original plan. The principal collection which we have received at Kew since the original preface was written is a beautiful series of the ferns of New Granada, gathered by MM. Lindig and Triana, for which we have to thank the authorities of the Paris Museum. This contained a considerable number of new species, which were described by Professor Mettenius, whose loss in the prime of life we have also had to deplore since the work was commenced. For other novelties we have also to thank Lady Barkly, Dr. Thwaites, and Mrs. Lyell. Partly in consequence of these additions, we have been obliged to extend the work to ten parts instead of nine, as was planned originally. The total number of species admitted and described is 2,235. A paper by myself, containing a summary of the leading features of fern-geography, based upon this work, will appear in the part for 1868 (vol. xxvi. part i.) of the "Transactions of the Linnean Society." About the Publisher Forgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.com This book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully; any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works."