-i INTRODUCTORY EXPLANATIONS. 



of the earth, as a branch of knowledge distinct fi-om that 

 which is more exchisivelj concerned with the technical 

 classification and description of species. This study has 

 been variously denominated " Phyto-Geogi-aphy," " Bota- 

 nical Geography," " Geograpliical Botany," and " Geogra- 

 phical Distribution of Plants." These compound names 

 are all of them objectionable ; they ai'e inconveniently long 

 for titles of books, and none of them can be said sufficiently 

 to exj^ress the scope of the present work. The author 

 ventm-es therefore to substitute the mythological name of 

 Cybele ; that is, the name of a Goddess who was supposed 

 to preside over the productions of the earth. The name of 

 ' Flora ' has long been used for those catalogues of plants, 

 in which' are described the species of any defi^nite section 

 of the earth ; that of ' Cybele ' appeai-s quite as apphcable 

 to one which is intended to show their relations to the 

 earth, as local productions of the gi'ound and climate. 



Though a knowledge of plants, and a knowledge of their 

 geograpliical relations, may be deemed two distinct subjects 

 of study, yet they were perhaps never wholly disjoined, 

 and there is now certainly an increasing tendency to bring 

 them into closer connexion. On the one side, indeed, it is 

 impossible to disconnect the two kinds of knowledge. The 

 technical botanist often knows species sufficiently well in 

 the herbaiium or the garden, although maderstanding ex- 

 tremely httle about then- geographical relations ; but the 

 botanical geogi'apher cannot remain unacquainted Avith 

 species, while investigating then- distribution. The latter 

 takes a maixh foiTvard, beyond the ground of the teclmical 

 describer, or the student of species ; and before he can do 

 so, he must first pass over that ground ; tanying upon it 

 awliile, to make himself acquainted with species, their 

 names and synonymes, and their technical classifications. 



