392 JOURNAL, BOMBAY NATURAL HISTORY SOCIETY, Vol. XVIII. 



tenclent of the Government Cotton plantations. In 1861, Hugh 

 Cleghorn, Conservator of Forests of the Madras Presidency, published 

 " The Forests and Gardens of South India." The book is " simply a 

 compilation of papers, commencing with three annual reports, which 

 indicate the progress of the (forest) department, and which are 

 followed by a memorandum on Kumari, — an injurious practice, which 

 destroys vast quantities of the most valuable timber, — and by other 

 memoranda bearing more or less on the subject of Indian forests. 1 " 

 On page 123, Cleghorn gives the " Rules for the preservation of 

 jungles in the District of Coimbatore " and, later on, he adds the 

 report on the Madras Exhibition of timbers and ornamental woods, 

 in which we find the following relating to Coimbatore : " The collec- 

 tion from Coimbatore, Kistna Maramut supt. exhibitor, consists of 

 34 specimens, about 13 inches long, with a cross section of 3 inches 

 square. Great pains appear to have been taken in the preparation of 

 these samples, and in the determination of the names. Almost all 

 the trees best known and most highly valued in this part of India are 

 represented in this collection. 2 " In 1858, Cleghorn with several 

 friends undertook an " Expedition to the higher ranges of the 

 Anamalai Hills " of Coimbatore. A very instructive description of 

 the tour, with special reference to the botanical features of the country, 

 was read by Cleghorn to the Royal Society of Edinburgh, the 29th 

 April 1861.3 "The ferns of Southern India" by R. H. 

 Beddome, Conservator of Forests of Madras, and " The Flora Sylvatica 

 of Southern India" by the same author, are well-known contributions 

 to the Flora of the Madras Presidency. 



In order to understand the composition and character of the Flora, 

 we now proceed to give the physical and meteorological features of the 

 District. 4 Coimbatore is situated between 10° 14' and 12° 19' N. 

 Lat., and 76° 35' and 78° 14' E. Long., its area being 7,860 square 

 miles. It is bounded on the north by the territory of Mysore and the 

 river Cauvery, on the east by the Cauvery, which divides it through- 

 out its whole extent from Salem, on the south by the District of 



1 Hugh Cleghorn, the Forest and Gardens of South India. London, 1861, p. XI. 



2 Cleghorn, 1. c„ p. 249. 



3 Transactions of the Koy. Soc. of Edinb., Vol. XXII. 



4 Cf. Pharoah & Co. : A Gazetteer of Southern India, Madras, 1855. Madras 

 District Gazetteers, Coimbatore, Vol. II, Madras, 1905. H. F. Blanford : The Climate and 

 Weather of India, Leylou and Burma, London, 1889. 



