304 



Appendix C. 

 Geographical dd&tribution of Species. 



Mr. Kurz has well pointed out that British India may geo- 

 graphically and botanically be divided into three broad divi- 

 sions, viz., the Himalaya, the Deccan, and the great Gangetic 

 Plain between them. 



The Deccan is the plateau that includes the whole peninsula 

 and reaches northward to the Rajmahal hills in Bengal and to 

 the hills of Rajpootana. Ceylon is a part of it. The whole of 

 this area is remarkably uniform in its general appearance, its 

 geological character, and its general vegetation. At Coimbatore 

 or Salem in Madras the resemblance to Chutia Nagpore in Bengal 

 is so complete, that it is difficult to realise that these localities 

 are nearly a thousand miles apart. 



The great Gangetic plain is also similar in general appearance 

 from Calcutta to Lahore, but the plants are less uniform : this 

 plain, as Mr. Kurz has pointed out, is a plain of cultivation and 

 has no characteristic flora of its own : the vegetation consists 

 largely of plants that follow cultivation, and in respect to many 

 even of the common trees it is difficult to say how far they are 

 truly indigenous. 



The Himalaya forms essentially one phytographic province, 

 but on a range of 1,500 miles there is necessarily considerable 

 change in species, and some change in genera in proceeding from 

 Kashmir to Bhotan. These changes are the greater, because 

 there is so enormous a difference in moisture between the Eastern 

 and Westem parts of the Himalaya : Sikkim and Bhotan have 

 a dripping summer, while west Kashmir is essentially a dry 

 country. The flora of the high Himalaya is closely allied to 

 that of the Altai and Siberia. The flora of the country between 

 the Altai and the Himalaya may be guessed, but is hardly known. 



The principal floras which trench on these three great Indian 

 botanic areas are the Persian and the Malayan. 



Scinde, the south of the Punjab, and a largc part of Rajpoota- 

 na, form the great Indian desert, and are the eastern extremity 

 of the great dcsert district of South Wcstcrn Asia. In this dc- 



