and particularly of the Genus Milium. i.5y 



of hermaphrodite flowers appears to my judgment the least solid 

 of all the Hedwigian distinctions, and leading in no case to a 

 natural, still less a commodious, generic character. With Cynon- 

 todium therefore I scruple not to abolish Webera and Poh/ia ; nor 

 should I retain Bartramia, but for its peculiar habit, and an easy- 

 essential character to be mentioned hereafter. But while I thus 

 venture to prune this ingenious system, let me indulge in the ap- 

 plause it deserves for the excellent marks it affords in Teh-aphis, 

 Dicratium, Tortula, Polytrichum and Fontina/is, which alone are 

 enough to ensure its permanency as long as the study of botany 

 endures. 



We come now to the investigation of what makes but too con- 

 spicuous a figure in this admirable system, the situation of the 

 male and female flowers. I mean not to object to the characters 

 deduced from the latter. Experience shows that the female 

 flowers being lateral or terminal is of primary if not infallible im- 

 portance in this tribe. The most natural genera of Bryiim and 

 Hypnum, and the no less natural Pterogonium, cannot be defined 

 by any other means. In these cases, " genus dat character em!' 

 What I regret is, that Hedwig, carrying this principle through 

 with the male flowers also, has made the character give the genus, 

 and in every case, but perhaps one, erroneously. Thus Fissidens 

 is separated from Dicranum, and Jf'eissia from Grimmia, with 

 some reason indeed, as to habit, in some species of each, but 

 not in all*; and Barbula is divided from Tortula against every 

 natural principle. It becomes me however to mention the one 

 case in which I have been almost tempted to admit the character 

 of the male flower being axillary instead of terminal to mark a 

 genus, which is in Gymnostomum. The habit of Anictaugium, the 

 original Hedzcigia, is so distinct from the other naked-mouthed 

 • In some species of Fissidens the female flower indeed is lateral. 



2 l 2 mosses', 



