13 



the initiative and generosity of Charles Darwin, do not exist 

 for other branches of botany and for zoology. The need is 

 also felt of international books of reference for agricultural 

 and industrial terminology. 



It is still more difficult to render correctly from the ori- 

 ginal languages the common names of plants and of animals, 

 of diseases of plants or of pests, as those given are sometimes 

 unaccompanied by the scientific name. In these cases, except 

 when the names are quite well known, search will be made 

 for the corresponding scientific name, to be given under the 

 responsability of the editor, the name in the original language 

 being always quoted. 



It is proposed to render reference more easy by means 

 of indexes, annexed to the Bulletins, these indexes serving 

 as glossaries of the common names of plants and of insects, 

 in some of the more important languages. 



The habitable globe can be divided politically and agri- 

 culturally into 170 regions. Some of these represent vast 

 territories, others comparatively small ones, others, again, 

 quite tiny areas. There are huge empires and .dominions, 

 such as Russia and China, Canada and the United States 

 of America (not including the detached territories, such as 

 Alaska, Porto Rico, the Hawaii and Philippine Islands, which 

 must be dealt with separately), in which, spite of wide differences 

 in climate, products, modes of cultivation and habitability, the 

 territory is politically united and continuous. Other divisions 

 include small countries, several of which, though geographi- 

 cally small, are intellectually important and expansive, and in 

 which production is intense and trade active. 



Again there are colonies and possessions belonging to 

 different countries, some of which extend over large continents, 

 whilst others are remote archipelagos or solitary islands. They 

 are regions that must be considered separately, forming 

 distinct and distant territories, differing in climate and products 

 from the mother-country. 



The 170 countries will be dealt with in geographical order. 

 Beginning with Great Britain and Ireland and then France, 



