  Let $\mathcal{H}_{d,g,r}$ be the Hilbert scheme parametrizing smooth
irreducible and non-degenerate curves of degree $d$ and genus $g$ in $\PP^r$.
We denote by $\mathcal{H}^\mathcal{L}_{d,g,r}$ the union of those components of
$\mathcal{H}_{d,g,r}$ whose general element is linearly normal and we show that
any non-empty $\mathcal{H}^\mathcal{L}_{d,g,r}$ ($d\ge g+r-3$) is irreducible
for an extensive range of triples $(d,g,r)$ beyond the Brill-Noether range.
This establishes the validity of a suitably modified assertion of Severi
regarding the irreducibility of the Hilbert scheme
$\mathcal{H}^\mathcal{L}_{d,g,r}$ of linearly normal curves for $g+r-3\le d\le
g+r$, $r\ge 3$, and $g \ge 2r+3$ if $d=g+r-3$.
