313 



present summer has almost burnt up this whole 

 eastern country. Here was scarcely any rain from 

 April till the middle of September. 



I could like, one day, to show you this very tour 

 we took ; it would be new at least to you, and I 

 think you would find objects of amusement and cu- 

 riosity. The printer's devil summoned me home, 

 and I am not yet out of his clutches with regard to 

 FloraBritannica,a. sheet or two of which stands still 

 till I have made up my mind about some knotty 

 points respecting Mosses. You can hardly be aware 

 how much labour these little plants cost me, nor 

 what obscurity there is among them ; yet, when 

 carefully studied, they amply repay our care by their 

 beauty, the precision of most of their characters, 

 and the admirable exercise they afford to a syste- 

 matic mind. The difficulties are chiefly caused by 

 the inaccuracy of preceding writers. The Junger- 

 mannice and Lichens, which I must next take in hand, 

 are in some instances more variable and uncertain ; 

 but I must get through them, — and then I think 

 all other botanical labours will comparatively be 

 repose. The sulphur-coloured Lichen I found on 

 your house is, as I thought, L. orostheus of Acharius, 

 never before noticed amongst us. I am particularly 

 pleased at having to quote Allerton for a new plant. 



I shall soon begin eagerly to expect my friend 

 Shepherd. How welcome will a Liverpool face be to 

 me ! Of Salices you know I promise him a harvest. 

 Is not your plant Crinum erubescens P C. latifolium 

 as figured in Rudbeck (copied, I belie ve, from Hort, 

 Malabar.) seems broader in leaves and petals. 



