VI PREFACE TO THE PRESENT EDITION. 



As SO much of Dr. Mason's distinctive style will of necessity 

 disappear in the body of the work, it has been deemed advisable 

 to append the original prefaces of the earlier Editions, wherein my 

 deceased friend explains the origin of the work, and justifies even 

 an imperfect attempt to meet a pressing and undoubted want. 



In the Botanical portion of the work I have to acknowledge 

 the friendly and valuable assistance I have received from the Eevd. 

 C. Parish, to whom I am indebted for the Catalogues of Orchids, 

 Ferns, Mosses, Lichens, Fungi, and Algfe, which have been arranged 

 and mostly written by himself. The substance of the work may be 

 described as mainly derived from the Papers on Burmese Plants 

 contributed by Ivurz to the Journal of the Asiatic Society of Bengal, 

 and the Forest Flora of British Burma by the same author. I have 

 also consulted the fine work of Le Maout and Decaisne on Descriptive 

 and Analytical Botany, translated by Mrs. Hooker and edited by 

 Sir J. D. Hooker, C. B. ; Balfour's Forest Trees; and the Cyclopasdia 

 of India, embodying the researches of Brandis, and numerous other 

 authorities, which need not here be quoted at length. 



W. THEOBALD, 



Deputi- Sitpt. Geologicax SuEVEi' OF India. 

 Lime House, Oundle, 1882. 



