.1- 



« 





VI 



PKEFACE. 



ip- 



favourite pursuits. But since the year 1756, 

 when the Civil and Natural History of Jamaica 

 was published, great alterations have been made 

 in, and abundant matter added to, the science of 

 botany. Swartz, Aublet, Jacquin, Plumeir, and 

 others, have largely increased our knowledge of 

 intertropical plants 5 neA^crihcless the works of 

 these authors, whether from being descriptive of 

 plants of other places, including comparatively 

 few of those found in the islands, or from their 

 being confined to a particular class of plants, or 

 to plants little or not at all previously known, are 

 none of them of such a nature as to supercede 

 the necessity or usefulness of the Flora I have 



endeavoured to furnish. 



The Natural History of Barbados, published 

 in 1750, by the Rev. Griffith Hughes, A.M. is 

 adorned with many characteristic and well exe- 

 cuted plates. It must be admitted, however, that 

 these are the most valuable part of his book, the 

 descriptions in the text being so loose, imperfect, 

 and inaccurate, and so evidently behind the state 

 of the science at the time they were written, that 

 it would hardly be possible to recognize any of 

 his plants, not represented in a plate, if it were 

 not for the agreement of the title in the Natural 

 History with the name at present in current use. 



J 



1^ 



i 



% 



t 



I 



'A 





I 



■^^ 



