PREFACE. 
Tue Author having been for several years Superintendant of the Honourable East-India Company’s 
Botanic Garden, at Saharunpore, in 30° of N. latitude, and near the foot of the Himalayas, had, neces- 
sarily, great advantages in acquiring a knowledge of the Botany and other branches of the Natural 
History of that little-known portion of the British dominions in India, These opportunities he was not 
disposed, either by duty or inclination, to neglect. Therefore, (as described in the Introductory Obser- 
vations, where the sources of information are detailed, pp. 1 to 3), with the Plants introduced into 
the Botanic Garden, preserved in the Herbarium, or drawn by the Hon. Company’s Painters, he 
collected specimens of the rocks he met with in his journeys, made observations on their dip and direc- 
tion; preserved the skins of Mammalia, of Birds, and of Reptiles, with the skeletons of some, and made 
a collection of the Insects both of the Plains and Mountains of N. W. India. He also made Meteoro- 
logical Observations with the Barometer, dry and wet Bulb ‘Thermometer, Rain-Guage, &c., all of which 
have served as bases for the observations in the Introductory Chapters of this Work. But his duties 
consisting also of the medical charge of the Station of Saharunpore, including two Hospitals, and the 
European residents, afforded less facility for travelling than was necessary for Natural History investi- 
gations. 
In making public the materials which had been collected, two courses appeared open to the Author ; 
either to treat of the several individual specimens, as objects of Natural History, entering minutely into 
their descriptive or distinctive characters, and interesting points of structure ; or as the collections were 
brought home, arranged according to the Natural Method of Classification, submitting the whole to the 
examination necessary for ascertaining the identity of old, or the certainty of new species; make use of the 
information obtained, for treating generally of the Flora of the Plains and Mountains of India, with 
respect to Geographical Distribution. This course has been preferred, as giving the most interesting 
and important general results, in consequence of the distribution of Plants being so much connected 
with soil and climate, and as leading to a just appreciation of the influence of physical agents on vegeta- 
tion, and elucidating those principles which require to be attended to in the culture, both of new, and of 
old plants in new situations. This also afforded great facilities in treating of the properties of plants as — 
connected with structure, and for showing the immense resources of British India, both as regards what- 
ever is necessary for the Agriculture, Manufactures, and Internal trade of the people, as for the supply 
of a much extended External Commerce. Much attention has also been paid to the Materia Medica of 
India, as this formed a principal object of the Author’s studies there, and the results of which are 
recorded in the MS. work on Materia Medica, alluded to by his friend Mr. James Prinsep, in the Journ. 
Asiat, Soc., vol. i. p. 459, 1832, and which he hopes soon to have leisure to publish. 
Before concluding, the Author begs to take this opportunity of expressing his grateful thanks to 
the several Friends who have assisted him in different parts of this Work. To Mr. De La Beche he is 
deeply indebted for the trouble he took in constructing the Geological Sections, from the Author’s notes _ 
and specimens, and which are also useful as indicating the precise localities and elevations at which many 
of the Plants were found. To Capt. Cautley his best thanks are due, for the beautiful ast oe 
Himalayan Fossils; and to Dr. Falconer for recent Geological and Botanical information. 
The Author is also much indebted to his Friends, the Rev. Mr, Hope, late President of the Ento- 
mological Society ; and to Mr.Ogilby, Secretary of the Zoological Society, for having enriched this Work — oe 
