fl2 FLORA INDICA. 



bay ; compared with the exaggerated estimates of the Floras 

 of other tropical couutries^ which are so frequently put forth, 

 this number (which is certainly not too small) must appear 

 insignificant ; nor would it be fair of us to expect credence 

 for it, did we not add that it is the result of the collation of 

 many irrefragable data, after making a large allowance for du- 

 bious, undescribed, and even undiscovered species. It is right 

 also to add, that our conviction that the estimates of other 

 Floras (and indeed of the Flora of the whole globe) are exces- 

 sively exaggerated, is founded upon extensive personal expe- 

 rience, and the careful consideration of a large body of well 

 established facts ; and we are emboldened in enforcing it, by 

 the sanction of Mr. Brown, with whom we have repeatedly 

 discussed this curious and extremely important subject. 



With regard to the general diffusion of species throughout 

 India, we believe that there is no part of the whole area in- 

 cluded in our Flora where a radius of ten miles produces 

 many more than 2000 species of flowering plants, and that 

 this is very rare, confined to mountainous districts, and pos- 

 sibly to the Khasia. It is further probable that a continuous 

 area, with a radius of fifty miles, containing 4000 species, is 

 nowhere to be foimd in India ; if anywhere, its centre is pro- 

 bably in the Assam valley, in which case it would include 

 the Khasia, Jheels of Bengal, and the loftiest regions of the 

 Himalaya. 



With regard to local assemblages of species in very narrow 

 areas, these are never very numerous, except iu the pastures 

 of the temperate and subalpine districts, where thirty to forty, 

 in different stages of luxuriance, may be found within a radius 

 of six feet. Nearly as many may be gathered in the neigh- 

 bourhood of, and upon, one moss-covered rock or tree-stump 

 on the damp, exposed hill-tops of the Khasia. It is almost 

 impossible, however, to appreciate the nicely balanced local 

 circumstances that determine the number of species which 

 Avill all find room, and keep it, in a limited space : much de- 

 p( ud.s on the i)rcvalcncc of species that combine to check the 



