THE FLORA OF HALIFAX. 147 



might have been remedied had not a large quantity of Nowell's 

 duplicates been burnt as rubbish about the year 1898. This, 

 I am informed, was prior to the effects of the late Todmorden 

 Botanical Society (which included Nowell's specimens) being 

 handed over to the Todmorden Corporation. There is a 

 probability that the destroyed packets would have revealed the 

 information we are now in want of. That it was Nowell's 

 custom to fully label his specimens may be learnt from a glance 

 at a few of his packets found in Leyland's herbarium. A few 

 still remain in the Todmorden Library, similarly endorsed with 

 all the necessary particulars. The arrangement of his portfolio 

 was probably one of Nowell's latest works, for the names 

 attached to some of the mosses are more modern than those 

 employed by him in Baines' Flora and the Supplement. 



The Floras containing most records for this district, fur- 

 nished by Gibson and Nowell, are " Baines' Flora of Yorkshire " 

 (1840); "Supplement" to the same (1854); an d "Wilson's 

 Bryologia Britannica" (1855). To these, the information was 

 communicated direct: the moss portion of the "Supplement" 

 being compiled by Nowell himself. Evidence of Nowell's 

 work also appears in Braithwaite's British Moss Flora. Now- 

 ell's records are handed on in Miall and Carrington's Flora 

 of the West Riding (1862), and in Dr. F. A. Lees' most 

 valuable Flora of West Yorkshire (1888). Dr. Lees' Flora 

 also includes much local work in this branch of botany done 

 by Messrs. T. and A. Stansfield, C. P. Hobkirk, G. E. Hunt, 

 Wm. West and others. 



The present work further incorporates the results of recent 

 investigations by James Needham, Hebden Bridge, the late 

 H. T. Soppitt and the writer. Several new records, and 

 numerous additional habitats for the older ones have been 

 added. 



The classification of the Orders, Genera, and Species, with 

 the exception of the Sphagnaceae, is that of H. N. Dixon's 

 "Student's Handbook of British Mosses" (1896). This very 

 helpful handbook, with its supplementary catalogue (1897), is 

 the one at present most in use by British bryological students. 

 It is likely to remain so for some time to come, though further 

 changes are pending owing to the results of recent closer 

 research into the natural affinities within this race of plants. 



In the arrangement and nomenclature of the Sphagnaceae, 

 I have been guided by a recently published work on " The 

 European Sphagnaceae," by Dr. Warnstorf. An English 



