THE MOSSES OF THE EAST RIDING. 41 
been a wilderness, or rather shall I term it an oasis, waiting for 
investigators to whom it might yield up its treasures. 
From the time of the early workers, all those who have followed 
this interesting study have been domiciled on the outskirts of the 
district ; Goole, Selby, York, and Malton have all had patient and 
persistent ‘‘moss-grubbers,” as they are sometimes irreverently 
called, but I never heard of one in Hull. These men have only 
touched the fringe of the subject, and a wide field of virgin ground 
still remains unexplored. During the last eight or nine years I 
have been working my own particular portion near Market 
Weighton continuously in my leisure time, and have also 
investigated other portions as opportunity offered. The result, 
though small in numbers, is considered very satisfactory, about 
twenty-seven urn mosses and seven scale mosses having been added 
to the lists previously published. Two, if not three, are entirely 
new to Yorkshire, the remainder being first discoveries in the East 
Riding. I do not wish to take the whole credit of these additions 
to our moss flora, for Mr. M. B. Slater, of Malton, Mr. Ingham, 
of York, and Mr. J. F. Robinson, have each contributed to the 
general knowledge. 
The whole district is not a very favourable one for the 
bryologist, lacking those dreary moorlands, waste commons, and 
above all the rocky beds of streams, so dear to the heart of the 
moss-hunter. There are no mountains, the highest elevation 
being about 800 feet above the sea level ; the climate is too dry, 
for they are moisture loving plants, and the greater portion of the 
land is in a high state of cultivation. The most favourable 
situations are the damp heaths of the vale of York and the wooded 
glens on the western side of the chalk wolds. The wolds 
themselves are very barren ground, save for the truly calcareous 
species. Yet if you will permit me to use an Irishism, my rarest 
discoveries have occurred on this same barren ground, and have 
led me to greater zeal in examining any small portion still free 
from the all-pervading plough. Holderness, except for a few days’ 
examination on the excursions of the Yorkshire Naturalists’ 
Union at Lowthorpe, Withernsea, and Spurn, remains un- 
explored. Of course there is a considerable diversity of soil and 
situation in the vice-county. The vale of York, with its bogs and 
peaty commons, possesses a flora quite distinct from that of the 
chalk wolds, and the boulder clay of Holderness yields one quite 
dissimilar from either. The Rhacomitria, so abundant in hilly and 
mountainous districts are conspicuous by their absence. They 
appear on Strensall and Skipwith commons, and on the sandy 
heaths of North Lincolnshire, but in very small quantity. The 
tree trunks are also extremely disappointing to a bryologist. If he 
