TO DR. R. WIGHT. 



iii 



to 9,400 feet high, surrounded with hills covered entirely with 

 Pines, consisting of three species, all exactly limited as to elevation. 

 Here Cycnia now Prinsepia first appeared, and I was glad to find that 

 my supposition, (founded on the examination of dried specimens,) of 

 its being petaliferous, was correct. Dr. Lindley says it is petalous, 

 and the dry specimens I examined certainly had none, but then 

 the scars of their insertion were visible. I have made about eighty 

 drawings, and add to them daily, as I have in contemplation, (al- 

 though ten to ope it comes to nothing), the publishing of Illustrations 

 of Natural Orders. There is no work more wanted than such a one, 

 giving all information as to structure etc, and not limited as Lind- 

 ley's Introduction is, so much to mere system. With careful and ex- 

 tensive illustrations, the work would be very useful. I must own 

 however that my drawings have been so badly treated in India, that 

 I am shy of again presenting them to any Indian Journal. I have 

 again found Hydropeltes, and shall despatch my collector back 

 for specimens, as it was only in bud when I found it. And I think 

 I have a new natural order, and what is better, formed of old plants 

 viz. Punica, Sonneratia, and Leptospartion oti Roxburghs Lager- 

 strseraia grandiflora. Dr. Lindley is certainly (1 think) wrong in most 

 part of his remaks on Punica, under Myrtaceae, and you will at once 

 admit the marked features of resemblance between the three genera 

 given above, and which have no more to do with Myrtacese than they 

 have with Conirostres. Upon my word, Botanists are most incon- 

 sistent. Valvation of calyx is anon a positive, and anon a ne- 

 gative sign. However I have not worked out my problem suflS- 

 ciently yet, as Sonneratia dries very badly, and I must have fresh 

 specimens from the Sunderbunds. I have got materials for an ex- 

 tensive collection of Genera and Species. If my resolutions stands 

 good, lean give figures of each. I have adopted a plan which ought 

 to be general, that is of preserving specimens of inflorescence etc. to 

 be examined in spirit of wine. My collection in spirits already fills 

 many many bottles. By doing so, I can give all the minute parts the 

 benefit of a careful examination, which cannot be done on a line of 

 march. Vacciniacese will claim instant attention on my return, I 

 have a new genus known both from GayLussacia and Thibaudia by 

 the appendages on the back of the anthers. I have now 25 spe- 

 cies of the order, and I still find that all the Thibaudiaceou s 



