INTRODUCTION. V 



appended to this work will show what species in particular were fit 

 for use. A small hand collection was also received from the Salem Dis- 

 trict, Madras ; and a small collection of Ceylon woods was available from 

 the Inspector General's Office. These were separately numbered and 

 have been separately quoted. 



The chief contributors of further specimens for purposes of description 

 were Colonel Beddome, Captain Bailey, R.E., Messrs. Ribbentrop, Thomp- 

 son, Dodsworth, Smythies, Vincent, Johnston, Elliot, Oliver, Manson, 

 Fuchs, Wilmot, all Forest Officers; as well as Dr. G. King and Mr. J. 

 F. Duthie, the Superintendents of the Botanic Gardens at Calcutta and 

 Saharunpur. 



Taking all these sources together, the number of specimens named, 

 numbered, and described reaches 2,530, belonging to 906 species and 432 

 genera. All the wood specimens described in this work bear a letter and 

 a number, the numbers having been given in the order of receipt, and 

 each number refers to the particular specimen or series of specimens cut 

 out of one log or piece. In this way there can be no mistake, any number- 

 ed specimen can be at once compared with its description in the book by 

 means of its number, the index of numbers, and the list of specimens at 

 the end of the description of each species. It will be noticed that 

 some of the serial numbers from 1 to 3636 are not represented in 

 this work. The reason is that when the Paris Exhibition collections 

 were numbered the specimens of dyes, fibres, manufactured articles, etc., 

 were also included; these, or most of them, have now been omitted, 

 as well as such, of the wood specimens as were in too bad a condition 

 for description, or regarding the correct names of which any doubt 

 was felt. 



The letter represents the region from which the specimen came. 

 For this purpose eight regions have been established, on the principle 

 that the forests comprised in one region should possess a similar climate 

 and a similar flora. 



The regions so established and the letters by which they are desig- 

 nated are 



H. The North- West Himalaya, comprising the mountains of that range above an 



elevation of 3,000 feet, between the Indus and the Sardah river on the Nepal 



frontier. 

 P. Tlie dry and arid region of the plains and lower hills of the Punjab, Eajpu- 



taua, andSind. 

 0. The plains and Sub-Himalayan tract of the North- West Provinces, Oudh and 



Gorakhpur, ascending to 3,000 feet. 

 C. Central India, the hilly country lying south of the Jumna and north of the 



Godavery Biver, and including the Vindhia and Satpura Hills, as well as Orissa. 



