GENERA MTJSCORUM FRONDOSORUM 76 



in the editorial management of the Botaniffchr ZeituyK/ &nd Die XatKr. 

 What the sum total of the new species he described may be it is 

 impossible to say with any approach to accuracy ; but six or seven 

 tlioiisand is probably a moderate computation. He certainly pub- 

 lished some two thousand after 1895, presumably urged on by 

 the genesis of General Paris's Index Bnjoloijiciis ; moreover, some 

 hundreds of numina nuda are put into circulation in the present 

 work. 



He contemplated, Dr. Schliephacke tells us, the publication of 

 a third volume of his Si/nopsis, and began to prepare the requisite 

 material more than ten years ago ; but the uninterrupted supply of 

 new gatherings of mosses from all parts of the world which reached 

 him kept him so fully occupied that he was never able to execute 

 his project. And so that new or revised synopsis of the world's 

 mosses, which is so badly needed and which he, from his complete 

 mastery of the subject, was so thoroughly competent to provide, 

 still remains unwritten. It is true that, so far as the acrocarpous 

 mosses are concerned, some degree of consolation may be found in 

 the present fragment, upon which he was engaged in his last years. 

 The pity is that the pen was snatched from his failing hand when 

 the task was but half completed. However, as far as it goes, it is 

 an exposition of his views as to the proper grouping of the genera 

 and subgenera, conveying an adequate description of the morpho- 

 logical characteristics of the various groups, genera, &c., and of their 

 historical development, and a skilful account of the geographical 

 distribution of the species, the whole being interspersed with critical 

 and sagacious remarks which both add to the interest of the text 

 and reveal the profundity of the author's knowledge and his 

 wonderful grasp of the subject. 



The system adopted is an amplification of that which was 

 expounded in the St/nopsis fifty years ago. The Cleistocarpous 

 mosses are retained in a class by themselves. The Sphmpiacecp 

 maintain an artificial position in contiguity with the Leacobri/acea. 

 The genera are far fewer and more condensed than in rival systems 

 of classification ; thus Campijlopnsis but a subgenus of Dicranum. 

 The number of genera treated is about 115, and seven of these bear 

 a superficial resemblance to novelty which in some cases is mis- 

 leading. For three of them [Beckett ia, Thysanomitrlopsis, and 

 Hfjpndontium) will not withstand the test of research. They have 

 already been described in Heduvjia. Two of the others, Brothera 

 and Monncranum (both Dicranaceous), were baptized in Kindberg's 

 Enumeratio Bnjinearuui E.votic(num in 1891, but now are described 

 for the first time. And as for the remaining two, Spruceella and 

 Aulacomitrium Broth, (both Pottiaceous), they labour under the 

 disadvantage of being fitted with names which are open to strong 

 objection. Sprucella Steph., which barely differs from the former 

 name, has been in use in the Hepatics since 1886. And, as to the 

 latter, it must give way, if the Macromitrious Aulacomitrium. Mitt. 

 (1891) is a sound genus. 



It is much to be regretted that no references are given to the 

 first place of publication of the subgenera, as they would have been 



