1898-99. | Report of the Bryological Section. 61 
well in the cabinet, but in their preparation the workers would 
gain a knowledge of the structure which no amount of ex- 
amination of the object prepared by another would ever give. 
Such workers I would also invite to our fortnightly meetings, 
where I have no doubt they would pick up some hints which 
would be useful to them. We would impose upon them no 
conditions of study, ask them to undertake no field of research 
which did not fall in with their own liking. For of every field 
of investigation it may be said, in the words of my late 
lamented friend, M. Julius Deby, in the close of his introduc- 
tion to ‘ Pelletan’s Diatoms ’"— 
“Tl y a pres de quarante ans que je m’occupe, pendant mes 
loisirs, hélas! trop peu nombreux, de l’étude des Diatomées. 
J’y ai trouvé, pendant cette longue partie de mon existence, 
un délassement bienfaisant, une récréation saine et de bon aloi, 
un plaisir continu, qui m’ont maintes fois fait oublier momen- 
tanément les petites et les grandes miseres d’une vie fort 
accidentée. Je souhaite 4 tous ceux qui suivront mes conseils 
de trouver dans l’étude de ces admirables petits organismes 
autant de satisfaction que j’en ai trouvé moi-méme. 
“Un vaste champ reste ouvert pour compléter lhistoire des 
Diatomées ; il y a done gloire et profit 4 retirer de leur étude 
pour celui qui voudra sérieusement l’entreprendre.” 
REPORT OF THE BRYOLOGICAL SECTION OF 
THE MICROSCOPICAL SECTION. 
By Mr WM. WILLIAMSON. 
In submitting the first report of this section, I may state that 
it is the outcome of an arrangement made at the beginning of 
the winter session that the work of the Microscopical Section 
should be carried out by different groups, each selecting some 
special subject for study. Four or five of the members 
associated themselves to learn something of the life-history of 
the moss plant, and it was concluded that the most concise 
report of the progress made would be to review briefly the 
