A BIBLIOGRAPHY OF THE BOTANY OF BRITISH 

 INDIA AND CEYLON. 



RY 



Yj. Blatter, s. j. 



The idea of compiling a list of books and papers on Indian 

 Botany first came to my mind some eight years ago when I came 

 out to India and was quite at a loss to ascertain what had been 

 published on the vegetation of this vast country. What was left 

 in my memory of the study of the history of Botany was the 

 vague idea that, once upon a time, some enterprising botanists and 

 explorers had lived and worked and died under the tropical sun of 

 Hindustan, that some of them had sent huge collections to various 

 museums in England and France and Germany, and that others 

 lived long enough, to commit their observations to writing, whilst 

 a few of them had to be satisfied with the fame of posthumous 

 publications. But most of the names had escaped me ; of some 

 indeed I remembered the names exactly, but I did not 

 quite recollect, what the bearers of the names had been doing, and 

 of a great number who, I was sure, must have existed, I knew 

 neither the one nor the other. 



In the course of time I made the discovery (which was not a 

 little consoling to me) that a great many of my botanical col- 

 leagues had to confess a similar ignorance. Under these circum- 

 stances it was indeed gratifying to receive inquiries like these from 

 various parts of India : 'Could you recommend me a concise book 

 dealing with the Botany of Rajputana ?' or : ' I should be much 

 obliged for a list of botanical books which have been issued on the 

 flora of Hyderabad', or some other time : ' If it is not causing too 

 much trouble, I wish to ask yoii, which authors described best the 

 mosses of Southern India ? ' or : 'I should like to buy a book 

 which treats exhaustively of the fungi of the Deccan.' 



These and similar questions set me ahunting after the botanical 

 literature of India. But this is not an easy task in a country, 



