The Cucurbitaceae is predominantly a family of tropics and subtropics and a good number of its members are represented in the Indian flora. This family is important not only for its unique morphological features and disputed taxonomic position but also for its economic importance. A large number of cucurbits are cultivated in India and their fruits are used as vegetable and dessert. Seeds of many cucurbits yield oil and the seed cake is a good cattle feed. Although male flowers of Cucurbitaceae have been the focus of attention of botanists for the unique structure of anthers, the pollen morphology has also formed the subject of numerous publications from different countries. But most other aspects of study on anthers namely the development of anther, pollen production and their release, lose of pollen viability, pollen germination and pollen tube growth have received inadequate attention. Therefore, a study was undertaken on all aspects of anther and male gametophyte. The data obtained during this study and the papers published by different researchers form the basis of this publication. It is hoped that the material presented here will be of some value to research workers, plant breeders and other agriculture and horticulture scientists.

By Sir Alfred Lyall

THE principal object of this book has been to sketch in outline the Rise of the British Dominion in India, and to relate the circumstances that led to the gradual extension of our territorial possessions up to 1858, when the Crown superseded the East India Company in the direct government of the country. It has also been thought expedient to give, toward the end of the volume, a short dissertation upon the nature and operation of the system of Protectorates, by which the independent native States within India have been preserved under the superior control of the imperial government, and the foreign States or outlying tracts adjacent to the British frontiers have been brought under our political influence. But since the main purpose of the work is to present a connected view of the historical events and transactions, in Europe and in Asia, that combined to promote the foundation and to expedite the spread of the Dominion, the later stages of its expansion have been traversed in this narrative more rapidly than the earlier stages, which have perhaps attracted less general attention, and are not so commonly understood. Moreover, several remarkable incidents (as, for example, the famous trial of Nuncomar) have been omitted or barely mentioned, because they seemed to have little bearing upon the larger political issues with which this book is concerned; and also because a detailed account of them can be found in any history of British India.