Our Native Ferns: And Their Alies, with Synoptical Descriptions of the American Pteridophyta North of Mexico (Classic Reprint)

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Excerpt from Our Native Ferns: And Their Alies, With Synoptical Descriptions of the American Pteridophyta North of Mexico
The first edition of this manual was published in 1881 and the second in 1882; the continued call for copies of the work is the only apology for a new edition. During the past six years the interest in ferns has largely increased, and has resulted not only in a wider and more thorough study of known forms, but in the less explored portion of our territory new species are continually being brought to light. Of the true ferns (forming the order Filices) 140 species were described in the first edition and 145 in the second; in the present edition 156 species are recorded, while three species recognized in former editions have been reduced to varieties.
The Fern Allies are here augmented by the addition of a genus new to this country (Salvinia), and five species, two of which are here described for the first time; a reduction of three species has resulted from a more extended study of large suites of specimens, so that 68 species are here recorded.
While the general plan as developed in the former editions has not been greatly modified, the details of the entire work have been thoroughly revised in order that it may be in harmony with the present aspect of structural and systematic study which every year is adding to the sum of our knowledge.
The work is intended as an introduction to the study of ferns and a manual for the easy determination of our species; as such it has aimed to be suggestive in methods of study; to this end the student is referred to the necessary literature, classified according to subjects, at the close of each chapter. It is hoped that the introduction of eight pages of references to the introductory literature of plants lower than the pteridophytes may prove valuable to students who, like the writer, have been obliged to grope in the dark with no kindly suggestion as to what works were valuable for beginners.
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