Preface 



The material for this work was collected without any idea of 

 publication, and was intended only for my own use. Coming 

 into possession of a business in which very many different kinds 

 of wood were used, and finding great difficulty in distinguishing 

 one from another, I fell back, for lack of any practical experience, 

 upon my knowledge of Botany, and collected a mass of informa- 

 tion, not only concerning the woods used in my workshops, but 

 also concerning a constantly increasing range of species. 



I have received much valuable help from the late Secretary of 

 the Colonies, The Rt. Hon. Joseph Chamberlain, to whose good 

 will I am indebted for a great number of specimens sent me at 

 his request. Thanks are also due to the Agents-General of South 

 Australia, Western Australia, Queensland, Victoria, New South 

 Wales, Tasmania, New Zealand and Natal ; to the Governor 

 of Lagos, and to the Forest Officers of those Colonies, for the 

 liberal way in which they have responded to the request from the 

 Colonial Office. Further I acknowledge most gratefully the 

 assistance I have received from Sir William Thistleton Dyer, 

 Sir Dietrich Brandis, and the late Sir Frederick Abel. 



Thanks are also due to the works of Noerdlinger and J. S. 

 Gamble, without which little progress in this study can be made, 

 and in a less degree to those of Wiesner, of Mathieu and Th. 

 Hartig. For information upon the Timbers of Queensland, I 

 am specially indebted to Mr. F. Manson Bailey, who accompanied 

 his magnificent collection of specimens with details of the most 

 extensive and interesting character. For that upon timbers 

 from South Australia I thank Mr. Walter Gill, whose notes 

 form a small treatise in themselves. 



It should be stated that some of the Colonial specimens 

 did not arrive in time to be incorporated in the list of species 

 described, but they will be dealt with subsequently, and will 

 form portions of a series of which the present book is the first 

 instalment. 



I also desire to thank many personal friends and correspond- 

 ents, who have assisted me with information and specimens. 



In the matter of the Synonymy of the various species, I have 

 been guided by the Index Kewensis, and only those synonyms 



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