INTRODUCTION. Vll 



laya and the Gauges as one section ; and the great main belt of sal passing 

 into teak between that river and a southern boundary approximately re- 

 presented by the river Godavery, as a second. These two sections 

 correspond to the regions represented respectively by the letters ' O. ' 

 and < C '. 



The Moist Zone, shown in the map in dark blue, occupies two main 

 areas ijirst, the great belt of the mountain ranges of northern and north- 

 east India from Kashmir, through Nepal, Sikkim and Assam, to Chitta- 

 gong and Burma; and, second, the narrow belt along the western coast. 

 This latter corresponds to the region we have marked ' W ', while the 

 former is divided into 3 sections, each having its characteristic flora : 

 These are 



1. The Himalayan region, from Kashmir to the boundary of Nepal at the Sarda 



river, in longitude about 81. 



2. The Himalayan region, from the Nepal boundary at the Mechi river, in longi- 



tude nearly 88, the Assam Valley, Khasia Hills, Cachar, and Chittagong, 

 together with the Delta of the Ganges. 



3. Burma, including the Andaman Islands. 



and are respectively represented by the letters c H ', ' E ' and f B '. 



So that, with trifling exceptions, the zones of rainfall and the regions 

 represented by the letters prefixed to the numbers of the specimens agree 

 with each other. 



As far as it was published, Bentham and Hooker's " Genera Plantarum" 

 furnished the order in which the families were arranged, as well as 

 the general nomenclature of genera and species. At the time that 

 most of the work was written (1878) the " Genera Plantarum" had only 

 been published as far as the end of Qamopetala. Since then the Apetala 

 have been completed, while the Monocotyledons may be expected to be 

 published before long. In almost all cases the names given in the 

 " Flora Indica" have been taken, though there are a few exceptions in 

 some of the genera in which it was considered best to use better known 

 names, quoting always the names given in the "Flora Indica" as 

 synonyms. The "Flora Indica" is quoted as far as the end of the 

 second volume, that is, to the end of Cornacea. The third volume 

 of the ' Genera Plantarum' and the third volume of the ' Flora Indica/ 

 now in course of publication, have very considerably altered the genera 

 and specific names of many of the plants whose woods are here 

 described. To have inserted these alterations either during the course 

 of the printing, or as 'Corrigenda'* would have caused considerable 

 delay; and so the text remains as it was written. But when a new 

 edition is published very great alterations will have to be made and 



