“ACYCLIC (spiral-leaved) flowers are older than cyclic (verticillate-leaved) with a definite number, comparing, of course, only those with the same fundamental structure. The _Veronica_-type must be considered as younger, for example, than _Digitalis_ and _Antirrhinum_, these again as younger than _Scrophularia_; _Verbascum_, on the contrary, is the least reduced, and therefore considered as the oldest form. Similarly the one-seeded, nut-fruited _Ranunculaceæ_ are considered as a later type (with evident abortion) than the many-seeded, folicular forms of the Order; the _Paronychieæ_ and _Chenopodiaceæ_ as reduced forms of the _Alsineæ_ type; and the occurrence of few seeds in an ovary as generally arising through reduction of the many-seeded forms. The _Cyperaceæ_ are regarded as a form derived from the _Juncaceæ_ through reduction, and associated with this, as is so often the case, there is a complication of the inflorescence; the _Dipsacaceæ_ are again regarded as a form proceeding from the _Valerianaceæ_ by a similar reduction, and these in their turn as an offshoot from the _Caprifoliaceæ_, etc. Of course these principles of systematic arrangement could only be applied very generally; for teaching purposes they have often required modification.” In preparing the translation considerable difficulty has been experienced in finding a satisfactory rendering of several terms which have no exact equivalent in English. I may here especially mention the term Vorblatt (Forblad) which I have translated by the term bracteole, when it clearly applied to the first leaf (or leaves) on a pedicel; but in discussing questions of general morphology a term was much needed to include both vegetative and floral shoots, and for this I have employed the term “Fore-leaf.” Also, the term “Floral-leaf” has been adopted as an equivalent of “Hochblatt,” and the term “bract” has been limited to a leaf subtending a flower. I have followed Dr. E. L. Mark in translating the word “Anlage” by “Fundament.” At the end of the book will be found a short appendix giving an outline of some of the earlier systems of Classification, with a more complete account of that of Hooker and Bentham.