ACTA ET AGENDA. 573 



leading a more nomadic life. A few of them are professional botanists, 

 the greatest part are not allowed by circumstances to make the science 

 they like so much their profession ; but all, without exception, are 

 capable of doing valuable work. 



The following remarks are not intended to be a treatise on plant- 

 geography ; they are only short hints directed to those who are, on the 

 one hand, ready to contribute towards the completion of an important 

 scientific work, but, on the other, do not exactly know how to begin. 



The Bombay Natural History Society wants to ascertain — 



(1) the exact distribution of the single phanerogamic species in the 

 Presidency. Cooke in his notes on the habitat -;f the plants adhered, 

 as he says himself, " to the main divisions that Dalzell and Gibson seem 

 to have worked to, viz., Konkan, Deccan, Gujarat, Southern Maharatta 

 Country and Sind, as being the most convenient to follow." Kanara, 

 on account of its possessing plants which solely occur within its area, has 

 been kept separate. All these geographical divisions, however y are vast 

 areas, and within these areas the conditions for the development of plant, 

 life is very often so varied, that we must not suppose that a certain 

 plant which was found in one place, is necessarily spread over the whole 

 area. Very often, besides, we do not even know to what main divisions 

 many plants are confined. A detailed account of their distribution is, 

 therefore, very desirable. For this purpose the Bombay Natural His- 

 tory Society requests of her members to send specimens from all parts 

 of the Presidency. Identified specimens are, of course, preferred; but 

 if this should be impossible, a minute description of the flower added to 

 the specimen will be sufficient. We hope, thus, to complete at the same 

 time our herbarium, which as yet contains only the plants presented bv 

 Woodrow. They represent about half of our phanerogamic flora, and 

 the absence of the rest is badly felt by those who want to use the collec- 

 tion for reference. Of the plants growing in Kathiawar, Cutch, and 

 especially in Sind, we have only a small number of specimens, thouoh, 

 perhaps, the Sind flora is the most interesting feature in the vegetation 

 of the Presidency. Those who are willing to collect specimens, are 

 requested not to mount them, but to put them simply between two 

 sheets of paper ; newspapers serve the purpose very well. A note say- 

 ing whether the plant is common or not in a given place, is very useful. 



(2) In order to give a valuable plant-geographical description of 

 our country we must know a good deal, more of the aryptoganiic 



