221 
THE FLORA OF BRITISH INDIA. 
By Sm Joserpx Datron Hooxer. 
(WITH PORTRAIT.) 
[Tue following summary of the Flora of British India forms the 
‘The Indian Empire,” to be pu per ee the forthcoming new 
edition of the Imperial Gazetteer of In This chapter has been 
‘issued, in an advanced form (subject to i with the authority 
of the Secretary of State, and in response to representations from 
distinguished botanists in Europe and India, in order that, with as 
little delay as possible, it may be in the hands not only of Indian 
botanists and foresters, but of all who take an interest in the vege- 
table rinse of our vast Imperial possessions in the Hast 
a mary gives so admirable an idea cf nai abril teint of 
the Flora that we have obtained Sir Joseph’s permission to reprint it 
in these pages, believing that it cannot fail to ‘entice many of our 
readers, especially those whe pay attention to matters connected 
with distribution. For the details of distribution in the A ee 
provinces, reference must be made to the sketch itse are 
fortunate in being able to reproduce the excellent portrait ot the 
distinguished author, who celebrated his eighty-seventh birthday 
of Mr. Alexander Somerville, B. Sc., F.L.8., President of the Natural 
History Society of Glasgow, in whose Transactions it appeared. The 
portrait was retin in 1895.—Ep. Journ. Bo J 
Tue term British India, as employed in this chapter, embraces, 
over at above the vast territory controlled by the Government of 
Re coal flora applies in this sketch to native flowering plants, 
ferns, and their allies. Collected materials do not exist for dis- 
cussing the distribution of mosses, hepatice, lichens, and fungi 
which abound in most parts of India, or of the alge in its seas 
and fresh waters. On the other hand, such pepe ve herbaria of 
7 apcmd yr of plants have, during the last century especially, 
e over most parts of British India, that ‘the study of their 
penis may 1 assumed to provide sufficient materials for a review 
of its flora. 
The flora of British India is more varied than that of any other 
country of equal area in the Hast rn Hemisphere, if not in the globe. 
This is due to its geographical veer sion, embracing so many de- 
grees of latitude, temperate and tropical; to its surface rising from 
the level of the sea to heights above the limits of vegetation ; to its 
climates varying from torrid to arctic, and from almost absolute 
aridity to a maximum of humidity; and to the immigration of 
