A Curious Genealogy - Steer Family

I recently connected with Richard, another cousin (6th cousins, we think), via Ancestry.com and was pointed to A Genealogy of the Steer Family.  At a quick glance at both this genealogy and Richard's tree on Ancestry, the Steer family links into my Judkins and Collins lines.  I did some somewhat intensive research on the Collins family last fall on my trip to the Family History Library, but have done little with the Judkins line so I'm pleased to have this hint.

What I find interesting about this genealogy is its layout and formatting, which is unlike anything I've come across thus far in terms of numbering systems.

Russell, Isaac S.  A Genealogy of a Steer Family Comprising Some of the Ancestors and Nearly all of the Descendants of Jonathan and Grace (Edgerton) Steer. New Market, Md., 1891, p. 12.  Online. Internet Archive : http://archive.org/details/genealogyofsteer00russ.

Once I wrapped my head around the landscape layout, it seemed fairly easy to understand, if not a little cluttered in spots and without any additional explanatory text that one often sees in these historic genealogies.

In the above page my Judkins ancestors are listed at the bottom, going straight across:

Russell points his readers back to the "last paragraph on second page" where he explains his layout.

Russell, Isaac S.  A Genealogy of a Steer Family Comprising Some of the Ancestors and Nearly all of the Descendants of Jonathan and Grace (Edgerton) Steer. New Market, Md., 1891, p. 2.  Online. Internet Archive : http://archive.org/details/genealogyofsteer00russ.

I'd be curious to know if this is a standard layout or system.  I need to keep pondering the numbering, if not the other details.