182 
WILLIS : PODOSTBMACEÆ 
Having by the end of 1898 brought my observations on the 
Ceylon species to a state of comparative completeness, I 
I 
found it necessary for their complete understanding, as well 
as for the sake of a full account of the order, to study the 
Indian forms also in detail. With this in view, I visited in 
1899 the great herbaria of Kew and Paris to examine the 
type specimens there preserved. This, however, proved to be 
largely time thrown away. The herbarium specimens are 
almost all mere fragments gathered from the centres of dead 
and shrivelled plants in the dry season of the year, and give 
very erroneous ideas of the morphology of the mature living 
plants. The descriptions of the species, even in the best 
monographs and floras, based upon these fragments, are 
marked by serious, even glaring, errors, confusions, and 
omissions. It was evident that the only useful course was 
to collect again for myself fresh material of the Indian 
species from the rivers where they had been previously found. 
I am therefore very much indebted to the Committee of the 
British Association for the Advancement of Science, and to 
the Government Grant Committee of the Royal Society, for 
grants of £20 and £35, respectively, made to me in 1900 and 
in 1901 for this purpose. In December, 1900, and January, 
1901, I visited the hills of South-Western India, from the 
Bombay Ghats to Travancore, and in December, 1901, the 
Khasia Hills of Assam and the Sikkim Himalaya. As it 
is eminently desirable that the Indian species should be 
studied upon the spots where they grow at various times of 
year, I have given under each an exact description of 
the places in which I found it, for the guidance of future 
workers. 
I have to thank many friends who have helped me in my 
work by collecting or supplying material. In particular Mr., 
C. A. Barber, Government Botanist, Madras Presidency, has 
collected for me excellent dry and spirit material of many 
species, including three new to science, in South Kanara, 
Tinnevelli, and elsewhere. By the kind assistance of Prof. 
Gammie of Poona I have obtained some good material from 
