PREFACE. 
Vll 
have been caltivated with so much success, that all praise of 
the cultivators is useless, for the garden itself sufficiently de- 
monstrates the care and skill with which Cape plants have been 
treated in that excellent school of horticulture. 
Some Cape genera consist of numerous species, viz. Gera- 
nium Erica and Mesembryanthemum : very elegant works have 
been published giving account of the Gerania ; but the history 
of the Mesembryanthema is yet deficient, and the deserts con- 
tain still many species unknown to Botanists. 
Two species only of Stapelia were heretofore described by 
Botanists ; the genus now promises a numerous harvest of spe- 
cies. In my various journeys through the deserts I have col- 
lected about forty, and these I humbly present to the lovers of 
Botany. The figures were drawn in their native climate, and 
though they have little to boast in point of art, they possibly 
exhibit the natural appearance of the plants they represent, 
better than figures made from subjects growing in exotic houses 
can do. 
The genus of Stapelia seems peculiar to deserts. All the 
new species I have seen inhabit the desert parts of the Cape 
countries. The particular places where they are found are an- 
nexed to the specific descriptions of each. 
Several authors have written on this genus. Among the first 
are Hermannus, Bradley, &c. who wrote early in this century. 
Forskal, in his journey in Arabia Felix, discovered five new 
species, and has given good figures of two of them. 
Thunberg, in his Frodromus, mentions five species, three of 
them I cannot determine, viz. S. mammillaris, S. fasciculata, 
S. caudata, because his descriptions are so short ; probably in 
his Flora Capensis they will be more fully defined. I shall 
be glad to quote them as soon as it is in my power to ascertain 
them. 
