28 



Mr. W. H. Pearson, of Manchester, is engaged on a more 

 comprehensive work on them, which is much needed for the 

 assistance of British students. 



By far the most important researches made in this tribe 

 since the time of Hooker, have been done by the learned botan- 

 ist and traveller, the late Dr. R. Spruce, who was a native of 

 Yorkshire, and travelled for several years through the great 

 valley of the Amazon in South America, and crossed over the 

 Andine chain to the west Pacific coast, exploring botanically 

 through the whole of his route. 



Dr. Spruce discovered manj' new Cryptogamous plants, in 

 the districts he explored, and contributed much to the botanical 

 knowledge of the world. His grand book, " Hepaticae Amazon- 

 icae et Andinae," will ever remain as a memorial of his great 

 knowledge of these minute plants, and is acknowledged by all 

 students to be one of the best works ever produced. 



In the year 1882, Dr. R. Spruce issued a pamphlet of ninety- 

 six pages (printed at Malton for the author) entitled " On Cepha- 

 lozia : Its Subgenera and some Allied Geneva." In this work he has 

 given the results of his great knowledge and careful studies, and 

 has classified the Hepaticae upon a more natural method, which 

 students of this tribe, both on the Continent of Europe and in 

 America, are now following. All students of this tribe should 

 consult this brochure, which would greatly assist them to obtain 

 a good knowledge of the Hepaticae. 



The leaves of the Hepaticae have'no nerve, and the capsule, 

 when ripe, opens by four valves, from which the spores are dis- 

 tributed. The leaves of the Urn Mosses in many of them have 

 distinct nerves, and the stems show rudimentarj' traces of vas- 

 cular tissue, which is entirely absent in the Hepaticae. 



The urn-like capsule of the mosses opens by a lid or oper- 

 culum at the top, which is thrown off when ripe for the dispersion 

 of the spores by the peristome, which consists of a number of 

 divisions or teeth, having cell structure very highly hygroscopic, 

 which is acted upon by variations in moisture. The number of 

 these divisions or teeth of the peristome is always four, or multiple 

 thereof; thus some have four, eight, sixteen, thirty-two, and in 

 one genus the number of the teeth round the mouth of the cap- 

 sule is sixty-four. 



