34 
2. Lord Elgin desires me to thank you for the account which 
you have given of bs history of this undertaking, and he is glad 
to have the opportunity of assuring you that those who are 
interested in the aeecleaiueat of tropical Africa do not fail to 
recognise and appreciate the very great assistance which you have 
stort both in the laborious but most valuable work of jee 
ut the Flora and in many other ways. 
I am, Sir. 
Your obedient Servant, 
Sed.) R. L. ANTROBUS. 
Sir W. Thiselton-Dyer, K C.M.G., F.R.S. 
Flora of British India. 
No very long time elapsed before the India Office also expressed 
the wish that the — possessions of the Empire should be 
included in the schem 
t is sufficient to cane on record the dedication of the first 
volume to the Secretary of State at the time, and Sir William 
Thiselton-Dyer’s letter announcing the completion of the work. 
Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew 
March 15th, 1872, 
My Lorp DUKE 
The fact of ‘the first part of this Flora of British sare 
appearing during your Grace’s tenure of office, and under y 
instructions, affords me the welcome opportunity of following a 
time-honoured custom in dedicating that work to you 
la 
Your Grace’s faithful and obedient eer aure 
(Sgd.) Jos. D. HOOKE 
His Grace the Duke of Argyll, K.T., F.R.S., 
Secretary of State for India. 
KEW TO INDIA OFFICE. 
Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew. 
Feb. 13, *97. 
SIR, 
I have the — to inform you that the Flora of British 
India, which as n prepared at this establishment by Sir 
Joseph Hooker, seeliied by various botanists, and which has been 
aa sea under — peers of the Secretary of State for India 
in Coune as now been completed. There only remains the 
ecbipiiakions of a piers’ index, which is a mere matter of clerical 
labour. 
2. The achievement of so impor tant and considerable an under- 
taking appears to me to require that ong e attention should be 
drawn to it. The first part was issued n 1872, and the twenty- 
sekbaed 3 in December last, it thus Seeman the labour of a quarter 
of a century. 
