INTRODUCTION 
XXV11 
At Simla I found five species of Pinus ; at Mahassoo four of oak 
— all evergreen.’ From the foregoing it appears that she saw and 
distinguished all the species of pine and oak observed by later 
botanists. Colonel (Lieutenant-General) Munro, Major (Lieu- 
tenant-Colonel) Madden, Captain (General Sir Richard) Strachey, 
Mr. Winterbottom, Captain Simpson, General and Mrs. Walker, 
Major Yicary and Mr. M. P. Edgeworth were also among the early 
amateurs who contributed to Sir William Hooker’s herbarium, 
now forming part of the National Herbarium at Kew. Among 
botanists of that period the collections of Griffith, Jacquemont 
and Thomson are at Kew. Later contributors are Sir Dietrich 
Brandis, Mr. J. S. Gamble and Dr. G. Watt ; and Sir Henry 
Collett’s collection has been presented to Kew since his decease. 
The titles of their published works, containing more or less infor- 
mation concerning the flora of Simla, are included in the ‘ Biblio- 
graphy,’ p. lxvii. Extracts |of passages relating to the vegetation 
of Simla have been made from the writings of several of the 
travellers named. 
VEGETATION 
Only a very imperfect idea of the composition of the Vegetation 
of a country can be gained from an enumeration of the plants 
constituting its flora, even when some explanation is given under 
each species of its relative prevalence. A species may be common 
and generally dispersed, and yet not constitute a conspicuous 
feature in the landscape, by the roadside, in pastures or in woods. 
Fifty per cent, probably of the species have to be sought for, and 
not more than twenty-five per cent, enter into the physiognomies 
of the vegetation. Some trees and shrubs are conspicuous as 
individuals ; others only from growing gregariously. Some herbs 
have large and brightly coloured flowers ; yet others having 
smaller flowers, but growing in masses, give greater character to 
the vegetation. Had the Author been spared to complete his 
work, he would doubtless have pictured in words the appearance 
of the country at different seasons. This want I shall attempt to 
meet in some measure. Following the Author, I shall introduce 
some further comparisons with the flora of the British Islands, 
beginning with the ordinal composition of the Simla flora, premis- 
ing that the Simla district has a smaller area than the county of 
Sussex, in which about 1,000 species of flowering plants grow 
wild. 
