64 Mr. Menzies'j New Arrangement of the 



tempts made to amend the general cb ara&er of the genus; though 

 it is very clear that the character taken from the apophyfis ought 

 to have been long ago excluded, or rather ought never to have been 

 admitted, as it was only to be found in a few fpecies, and therefore 

 could not with propriety be-confidered as a generic distinction. 



The laborious works of the celebrated and perfevering Hedwig 

 have, of late years, thrown much light upon the fubjects of this 

 natural orderj but the general complaints againil his new ar- 

 rangement of k are, that his genera are too artificial, and that 

 their characters are taken from parts fo minute and difficult to exa- 

 mine, that they rather tend to perplex and difcourage a young be- 

 ginner in his investigations, than aid his purfuits in acquiring a 

 fcientific knowledge of this intricate tribe. While it can therefore 

 be avoided, no generic or fpecific chambers ought ever to be 

 adopted, that cannot eafily and difl.in6t.ly be feen by the afliftancc 

 of a fingle lens magnifier, fuch as Botanifts commonly carry in 

 their pockets. 



Hedwig's generic characters have indeed this recommendation, 

 that they are fhort and extremely beautiful upon paper, on which 

 account his character of this genus has been lately adopted by au- 

 thors whole erudition and general accuracy none can admire with 

 more profound refpeel than I do; yet I cannot join them in this 

 inftance without offering violence to a beautiful and natural family, 

 merely becauie its individuals differ only in the number of fmall 

 dents in the peri/lamia^ or rim of the capfule ; fome having thirty- 

 two dents, others about double that number. 



For thefe reafons I have not ventured to place much dependence 

 on Hedwig's new character of this genus, more efpecially as it 

 brings together plants which have fo little natural affinity : of this 

 we have an example, in his making the Bryum undulatum a Polytri- 

 ehum y though it agrees in no other refpe&s with this genus than 



merely 



