PREFACE. xix 



The Index to the volume has been made by Dr Selmar Schonland, Sub- 

 curator of the Fielding Herbarium, Oxford. 



It is now seven years since I returned from Socotra, and some apology to 

 the Fellows of the Society would appear to be needed for the tardy production 

 of this chief result of our expedition. The examination and description of 

 specimens was completed so long ago as 1883, and in the spring of that year 

 my account of the phanerogamic vegetation of Socotra was submitted to and 

 accepted by the University of Edinburgh as a thesis for the degree of M.D. 

 By the end of 1883, as the Council of the Society is aware, the descriptive part 

 of the flora dealing with Dicotyledones was printed, and the remainder was in 

 type shortly afterwards ; but delays in connection with the production of the 

 plates, which I need not here further particularise, have prevented the issue, 

 until now, of the volume in its completed form. Late as it is, I hope its 

 pages will be received by the Society as not an altogether unsatisfactory record 

 of a brief botanical investigation of the island of Socotra. 



ISAAC BAYLEY BALFOUR. 



Oxford, 1887. 



