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JOURNAL, E,A.S. (CEYLON). 



[Vol. IX. 



the species, the new acquisitions are worked out and duly 

 inserted in their proper places, various errors of nomen- 

 clature get corrected, doubts are cleared up, and the whole if 

 throughly done gives a fair resume, of the progress effected. 

 In the 20 years which have elapsed since the completion of 

 the late Dr. Thwaites's valuable "Enumeratio" much has been 

 published bearing more or less directly upon the Ceylon 

 flora, among which may be specially mentioned Beddome's 

 useful illustrated works on the Botany of Southern India, 

 and that important summary of Indian Botany, the " Flora 

 of British India." This very extensive undertaking by Sir 

 J. D. Hooker and numerous fellow-workers, has proceeded 

 through more than half of the Natural Orders, and is in 

 active progress at Kew. By this invaluable book I have, 

 of course, been mainly guided so far as it extends — i.e., to 

 the order Acanthacece ; in the subsequent Orders, so far as 

 Genera are concerned, 1 have followed the standard 

 " Genera Plantarurn" by the lamented Bentham and 

 Sir J. D. Hooker. 



In Ceylon itself, though little has been published, practi- 

 cal exploration and investigation have not been intermitted. 

 My predecessor's (Dr. Thwaites) plant-collectors brought in 

 to him from the jungle many novelties, and our few resident 

 botanists have also been very successful in adding to the 

 flora. Mr. T. N. Beckett, lately of Matale" but now in New 

 Zealand, Mr. William Ferguson, F.L.S., who lets no oppor- 

 tunity escape him, Mr. H. Nevill, C.C.S., a very acute obser- 

 ver in the field, and Mr. G. Wall, F.L.S., a keen hunter after 

 ferns (to which group unfortunately he restricts his energies), 

 have all contributed to swell this Catalogue of the Plants of 

 the Island. Much of my own time since my arrival in 

 Ceylon has also naturally been devoted to exploration, though 

 far less than I could wish. As a result, the present Cata- 

 logue contains, I suppose, not far from 200 species additional 

 to that of 1864, whilst the whole of the flora has undergone 

 a critical revision, and is re-arranged according to the best 

 available system. In the nomenclature and determinations, I 

 have been often assisted by the botanists at Kew and at 

 the Briti'sh Museum, to whom my thanks are due. Even 

 with this I am fully aware that not a few errors will be 

 detected by botanists working with access to type specimens, 



