A 
CENTURY OF INDIAN ORCHIDS, 
SELECTED FROM THE 
DRAWINGS OF PLANTS IN THE HERBARIUM OF THE ROYAL BOTANIC 
| GARDEN, CALCUTTA, 
WITH DESCRIPTIONS, &c. 
BY 
7. D. HOOKER, M.D., R.N. Ғ.В.8., K.C.S.I., C.B., &c., &c. 
Tue drawings here reproduced in lithography consist of a small selection from the 
magnificent series of Indian plant-portraits by native artists, that have been accumulating 
in the Calcutta Botanic Garden for nearly a century. The collection was commenced 
by Dr.. Roxburgh, then Superintendent of the garden, before the end of the last century, 
and has been steadily added to by his successors, Drs. Wallich, Falconer, Thomson, Ander- 
son, Clarke and King down to the present day, when it numbers from six to seven 
thousand ‘drawings. - Of these the most important botanically and most instructive 
scientifically are those of the orchids, of which there are about one thousand. 
It was not until I had almost completed the descriptions of the Indian orchids for 
the “ Flora of British India” that I ventured to ask Dr. King whether permission could 
be obtained from the Bengal Government for the transmission and temporary deposit 
in the Royal Gardens, Kew, of the drawings of this Order, so as to enable me to make 
such use of them as was still possible for my Flora. My request met with a prompt 
and generous acquiescence from Dr. King, who lost no time in وو‎ the requisite 
permission and in forwarding the drawings to Kew. 
As stated in the remarks preliminary to the * Supplement to the Orchidee” contained 
in vol. v, p. 176 of my Flora, the inspection of these drawings, together with the study 
of a multitude of specimens received through Dr. King from the Caleutta Herbarium, 
an and some as gifts to Kew, necessitated a revision of the characters of the 
some on lo 
greater proportion of the species already described (often from very imperfect materials), 
and consequently entailed many emendations in the latter, together with the addition of 
not a few new species. 
Axx. Roy. Вот. Garp. Оліс., Vor. V. 
