I.—INTRODUCTION. 8 
table-land, is so much less clearly defined than the corresponding 
line between this table-land and the country along and below the 
western Ghats, that the two have to be dealt with as an organic 
whole. When so treated the two together form an area that, in 
its extent, is out of all proportion to any of the other subdivisions 
indicated. 
If what has been said indicates that the adoption of natural 
areas is hardly practicable, it is easier still to show that this 
coincident with the natural characteristics of its provinces, as 
these are reflected in the acter pln The theoretical advantage 
of dealing with even & compact natural area is thus usually over- 
den who would wish to study the Madras vegetation, a iA 
these natural areas be adopted, have at hand two works: 
dealing with India Aquosa or, as an eminent Indian botanist ae 
sed to name it, Malabaria; and a second dealing with the 
Seroins India Subaquosa and India Vera, for which area the same 
authority has proposed the name Coromandelia. The inhabitant 
of the Bombay Presidency must possess both these works, and in 
addition that which treats of India Deserta. The district officer 
in the North-West Provinces, besides providing himself with a 
work dealing with the vegetation of the Gangetic plain, should 
have also at hand at least that which refers to Coromandelia. 
Finally, in the Lower Provinces, with which we are now more 
immediately concerned, anyone stationed in Chota Nagpur must 
the iataeal vegetation of the Sundribuns; while anyone pel to 
Chittagong must consult a treatise dealing with the vegetation of 
Indo-China, whereof Chittagong forms geographically, though not 
politically, an integral part. If the public interest is to be con- 
sulted, it is clear that a system of delimitation other than the 
obviously natural one is essential in deciding what are to be the 
limits of the areas treated in our Indian local floras; and the best 
