vol.. XVIII. (3) THE MOSSES OF GLOUCESTERSHIRE 257 



THE MOSSES OF GLOUCESTERSHIRE 



BY 

 H. H. KNIGHT, M.A. 



{Read March lyth, 1914.) 



Although several local lists of Mosses in different parts 

 of the County have appeared in various publications, no com- 

 plete list has yet appeared. The account of Mosses for the 

 Victoria County History of Gloucestershire was written some 

 years ago by Mr E. M. Holmes, but the part of this work 

 containing the account has not yet been issued. 



The eariiest record that I know of a Gloucestershire Moss 

 is in Camden's Britannia, Gough's edition, 1789. In a list of 

 Gloucestershire plants, Hypnum crispum L. is mentioned as 

 growing on St. Vincent's Rocks near Bristol. The first 

 botanist in the County who gave attention to Mosses was 

 G. H. K. Thwaites, of Bristol. A list of Mosses found by him 

 in the neighbourhood of Bristol is given in the Annals of 

 Natural History, Series I., vol xii. {1843). Thwaites left a 

 herbarium which contained mosses as well as flowering plants. 

 This herbarium was presented to Clifton College Museum in 

 1 87 1, but was afterwards sold at an auction, and is now lost. 

 The next bryologist in the County was Henry Beach, of 

 Cheltenham. There is a paper by him on " The Mosses of the 

 District," which was read at the first meeting of the Chelten- 

 ham Working Naturahsts' Association on November 20th, 

 1 86 1, and is now in the Library of the Cheltenham Natural 

 Science Society. Mr Beach gave a full and accurate hst of 

 the Mosses to be found round Cheltenham. A full list of 

 publications relating to the Mosses of the County, and of 

 botanists who have helped me with local Usts, is given further 

 on. 



For botanical purposes the County was divided by H. C. 

 Watson, in " Topographical Botany," into two divisions — East 

 Gloucester (33) and West Gloucester (34) — the dividing line 

 being the Thames and Severn Canal, and the River Severn 



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