he subject seems always to have
presented special attractions, probably from the singularity of the
appearances presented, and from the fact that in many cases the
examination of individual instances of malformation can be carried on,
to a large extent, without the lengthened or continuous investigation
and critical comparative study required by other departments of
botanical science. Be this as it may, teratology owes a very large
number of its records to this class of observers.

While the number of scattered papers on vegetable teratology in various
European languages is so great as to preclude the possibility of
collating them all, there is no general treatise on the subject in the
English language, with the exception of Hopkirk's 'Flora Anomala,' a
book now rarely met with, and withal very imperfect; and this
notwithstanding that Robert Brown early lent his sanction to the
doctrines of Goethe, and himself illustrated them by teratological
observations. In France, besides important papers of Turpin, Geoffroy de
Saint Hilaire, Brongniart, Kirschleger and others, to which frequent
allusion is made in the following pages, there is the classic work of
Moquin-Tandon, which was translated into German by Schauer. Germany has
also given us the monographs of Batsch, Jaeger, Roeper, Engelmann,
Schimper, Braun, Fleischer, Wigand, and many others. Switzerland has
furnished the treatises of the De Candolles, and of Cramer; Belgium,
those of Morren, &c., all of which, as well as many others that might be
mentioned, are, with the exception of Moquin-Tandon's 'Elements,' to be
considered as referring to limited portions only and not to the whole
subject.[1]

In the compilation of the present volume great use has been made of the
facts recorded in the works just cited, and especially in those of
Moquin-Tandon, Engelmann, and Morren. A very large number of
communications on teratological subjects in the various European
scientific publications have also been laid under contribution. In most
cases reference has been given to, and due acknowledgment made of, the
sources whence information has been gathered. Should any such reference
be omitted, the neglect must be attributed to inadvertence, not to
design. In selecting illustrations from the immense number of recorded
facts, the principle followed has been to choose those which seemed
either intrinsically the most important, or those which are recorded
with the most care. In addition