INTRODUCTORY ESSAY. 7 



to the rich herbarium and library of Sir William Hooker, and 

 its vicinity to a metropolis containing other collections (espe- 

 cially the Wallichian Herbarium) indispensable to an Indian 

 botanist. 



Under a combination of so many favourable circumstances, 

 we felt it our duty to undertake the task proposed to us. Not, 

 however, having at our command the necessary funds, the sub- 

 ject was brought before the British Association at the meeting 

 of 1851, and being most favourably received by its members, 

 the Directors of the East India Company were strongly memo- 

 rialized on behalf of an undertaking in which it was expected 

 that they would feel the deepest interest. In reply to this re- 

 commendation, the Court declined promoting the object, but 

 expressed a willingness to take its merits into consideration 

 on its completion. The President of the British Association, 

 in communicating to us this answer, at the same time inti- 

 mated to us the hopes of his colleagues that we should at 

 least commence the work. This we did, but, we must con- 

 fess, vidth a feeling of discouragement, for the unfavourable 

 answer of the Court materially retarded our progress, our pri- 

 vate resources not being sufficient to provide such assistance 

 as would have relieved us from the mechanical labours of ar- 

 ranging, distributing, and writing tickets, which have in con- 

 sequence hitherto occupied more than three-fourths of our 

 time. The difficulty of the task has also far exceeded our an- 

 ticipations, as we were not prepared for so large a proportion 

 of Indian plants proving identical with those of other parts 

 of the world. This has obliged us, in every large genus, to 

 have recourse to a critical study of the European, Siberian, 

 Chinese, and Japanese floras, which has elucidated results to- 

 tally unexpected by ourselves and fellow-botanists, and at the 

 same time of extraordinary interest and importance to the 

 science of Botanical Geography. 



As we are anxious to render (3ach portion of the work as 

 complete in itself as possible, and are desirous of enlisting in 

 the cause such of our fellow -botanists as may be willing to 



