CALCUTTA BOTANIC GARDEN. 37 



14. A small collection of Tasmanian plants, presented by Captain 



Margrave. 



15. An extensive collection, chiefly of New Holland plants, selected 

 from the Hookerian Herbarium, and presented by Sir W. J. Hooker. 



16. A few New Zealand Ferns, presented by Mr. Bedford. 



17. A complete collection of the plants of the United States of 

 North America, chiefly from the states of New York, presented by the 

 Rev. S. Williams in 1844. This collection is carefully named and 

 ticketed, and is very valuable. 



18. A small collection of North American plants, presented by Mr. 



Joseph Carson in 1836. 



An examination of this list will show that our Herbarium is still 

 very imperfect, and that there is no part of India from which contri- 

 butions would not be welcome. It is however sufficiently complete to 

 form an excellent basis on which, with the assistance of contributions 

 from all parts of India, a general herbarium may be completed in the 

 course of a few years ; and it contains a sufficient number of authenti- 

 cally named specimens to enable me to name the collections with which 

 I may be favoured, without much difficulty, on the spot, and thus to 

 avoid the necessity of sending them to England for comparison. 



In a country like India, where the distribution of plants is regulated 

 so completely by the climate, it is most important that botanists, 

 wherever situated, should devote themselves to the complete elaboration 

 of the plants of the district in which they reside ; and that they should, 

 if possible, combine careful meteorological observations, especially of 

 humidity, with their botanical labours. It is only thus that the ex- 

 ceptional cases (if there be any) of plants whose distribution is inde- 

 pendent of the climate, can be speedily^ eliminated. 



To the philosophical botanist who is desirous of investigating the 

 laws by which the distribution of plants is regulated, no Flora in the 

 world is more interesting than that of India, though it is in point of 

 numbers of species a very poor Flora when compared with Australia, 



^ a. 1 i i_ _ _ I I m. X * w *■ ft-* m n Lh IV I «-% * ■ * *m ** 



America 



forms 



The interest of the Indian Flora lies in the absence of new forms, in 

 the identity of its plants with those of other countries, in the occur- 

 rence of European plants on our western mountains, of Japanese plants 

 in the Eastern Himalaya, of Chinese plants in our dense eastern forests, 



