INTRODUCTION. IX 



ing the uses and qualities of the wood and the other products of the trees 

 so referred to have been added. One great object in having thus men- 

 tioned other species has been kept in view; viz., to show Forest Officers 

 and others who may have the opportunity, what we have not got, and so 

 persuade them to help, by sending to the writer or to the Forest School 

 Museum, specimens that can be described and help at some future time in 

 the publication of a more correct and complete description of the Indian, 

 woods than can now be attempted. In a few cases where most of the 

 species are well known, as, for instance, the Maples, an attempt at an 

 analytical key by which the species may be roughly determined in the 

 forests has been given. In the French Forest Flora this has been done 

 for all species, and the different Indian Forest Floras have similar 

 analyses, but they are all dependent on more or less difficult botanical 

 characters, while what we chiefly require is a series of keys which shall 

 enable a non-botanical Forest Officer to ascertain the species of the tree 

 he meets with, by means of the more conspicuous differences in habit, 

 bark, and leaf. 



It is now necessary to explain how the descriptions of the woods were 

 made. During the progress of the work of preparation of specimens in 

 Calcutta, and afterwards at more leisure in Simla, the examination of the 

 different woods and their description was made by a committee which 

 consisted of 



1. Dr. D. Brandis, F.R.S., C .I.E., Inspector General of Forests. 



2. Mr. J. S. Gamble, M.A., Assistant to the Inspector General of Forests. 



3. Mr. A. Smythies, B. A., Assistant Conservator of Forests, Central Provinces. 



The descriptions were usually dictated by Dr. Brandis, and written 

 down by one of the others, generally Mr. Smythies, but the wood struc- 

 ture was examined by all three officers and discussed before the descrip- 

 tion was finally passed. The whole was gone over three or four times, 

 and in the later examinations, when the Committee was more accus- 

 tomed to the differences of structure, the generic and family characters 

 were discussed and drawn up. Some of the later received specimens, as 

 well as those given in ' Addenda/ were described by the writer, but on 

 the same plan and principle as was originally adopted by the Committee. 



In the description of the woods the chief characters of which note 

 has been given are : 



1. Size of tree. 



2. Evergreen or deciduous. 



3. Description of bark 



a. Colour. 



b. Thickness. 



c. Appearance and lissuros, exfoliation. 



