555 



Notice of^ Twenty Lessons on British Mosses.^ By Wm. Gardiner, 

 Dundee, illustrated with specimens. Dundee: Mathers, 1846. 



This is one of those unpretending little volumes which are almost 

 sure to win their way to the good graces of all into whose hands they 

 fall. It does not claim to be a descriptive list of our mosses or a de- 

 tailed account of their structure. It makes no pretensions to be con- 

 sidered a work of science : or to rank as authority. It is exactly such 

 a simple, unassuming discourse as a botanist might address to his 

 children when wandering with them in the woods, and such also as 

 he might exemplify and illustrate Avith the mosses he would find 

 around him on all sides. But we shall allow Mr. Gardiner to speak 

 for himself 



"my dear young readers, 



" You have doubtless, in some of your rural walks, noticed the little 

 mosses, that, in the beautiful woods, cover the ground with a fresh 

 green carpet, and adorn the tops of old walls with their lovely ver- 

 dure. But, perhaps, you have not examined them attentively, nor 

 are aware that there are so many kinds of them, all differing from one 

 another in the structure of their various parts. It shall be my object 

 in these lessons to lead you to a better acquaintance with them. 



" Possibly you may have often passed them by with little more than 

 a heedless glance, — thinking that, because there were plenty of 

 bright-coloured flowers and stately trees around to delight your eye, 

 the humble moss was scarcely worth your attention. Because things 

 are small or humble, however, they should not be treated with con- 

 tempt nor carelessness. God made the little moss as well as the 

 glowing flower and lofty tree, and He has made nothing in vain. We 

 may not know all the uses for which such tiny things were created, 

 but we know some of them. We love what is beautiful, for God has 

 implanted in our minds that love ; and in the structure of the mosses, 

 as well as in that of many others of his smallest works, there is a 

 very great deal of beauty. We love them, therefore, because it is 

 natural for us to love what is beautiful. This love yields us true plea- 

 sure, which constitutes our earthly happiness, and ought to awaken 

 our gratitude to the benevolent Creator, who hath so kindly provided 

 for our purer gratifications. 



" Mosses are found in all parts of the world ; and in Britain alone, 

 there are about 400 different kinds. Their places of growth are as 

 varied as their forms. Some are found in the deepest valleys, by the 

 sides of lonely streams, or within the spray-clouds of roaring water- 



