64 Mr. Menzies’s New Arrangement of the 
tempts made to amend the general charaéter of the genus; though 
it is very clear that the character taken from the apophyfis ought. 
to have been long ago excluded, or rather ought never to have been 
admitted, as it was only to be found in a few fpecies, and therefore 
could not with propriety be confidered as a generic diftinétion, 
The laborious works of the celebrated and perfevering Hedwig 
have, of late years, thrown much light upon the fubjeéts of this 
natural order; but the general complaints againft his new ar- 
rangement of it are, that his genera are too artificial, and that 
their characters are taken from parts fo minute and difficult to exa- 
mine, that they rather tend to perplex and difcourage a young -be- 
ginner in. his, inveftigations, than aid his purfuits in acquiring a 
{cjentific knowledge of this intricate tribe. While it can therefore 
be avoided, no generic or fpecific characters ought ever to be, 
adopted, that cannot eafily and diftinétly be feen by the affiftance 
of afingle lens. magnifier, fuch,as Botanifts commonly carry in 
their pockets, 
Hedwig’s generic characters. have indeed this, recommendation, , 
that they are fhort and extremely beautiful upon paper, on which 
account his charaéter of this genus has been lately adopted by au- 
thors whofe erudition and general accuracy none can admire with 
more ‘profound refpeét than Idos yet I cannot join) them in this 
inftance without offering violence to a beautiful and natural family, 
merely becaufe its individuals differ only in the number of. {mall 
dents in the perifomia, or rim of the capfule; fome having thirty- 
two dents, others about double that number. 
For thefe reafons I have not ventured to place much dependence 
on ‘Hedwig’s new character of this genus, more efpecially as it 
brings together plants which have fo little natural affinity: of this 
we have an example, in his making the Bryum undulatum a Polytri- 
chum, though it agrees in uo other refpeéts with this genus than 
' a merely 
