1861.] ORTHOTRICEUM ANOMALUM. 27 



while so many new species^ originating out of this inquiry, were 

 crowding upon hiui and necessarily operating in a great measure 

 to prevent him devoting so great an amount of time and atten- 

 tion to the especial study of this plant, as under other and more 

 favourable circumstances he doubtless would have bestowed upon 

 it. I hope this explanation will be satisfactory alike to my friend 

 Dr. Schimper and to your readers. That erroneous impressions 

 are frequently the result of all primary investigations on most 

 subjects in connection with Natural History, few I think will 

 deny, more especially where, as in the present instance^ the case 

 is surrounded with difficulties of no ordinary character, and which 

 require for their unravelraent an amount of patience, experience, 

 and ability which is not found to be possessed by many. Even 

 ray friend Wilson, on first seeing the Aberdour ^NIoss, was much 

 more disposed to refer it to O. strangillatum than to the species 

 to which it really belongs ; a circumstance not at all to be won- 

 dered at, seeing that at that time we knew but little of the real 

 merits and characters of the species, and had no practical ac- 

 quaintance with them. I now proceed to quote some of the 

 subsequent observations made by my friend Schimper in his last 

 letter. He says: " I certainly consider your O. anomalnm, Hook, 

 and Tayl., as perfectly distinct from that so named in Bry, Eur., 

 which is unquestionably the one described by Hedwig in his 

 * Musci Frondosi,^ where the capsule is represented at plate 37, 

 t. 2, 'with sixteen strits, and concerning which it is said in the 

 text, ' Harum (striarum) aiise omnem longitudinem metient^ alise 

 ab ora ortse circa medium evanescunt.' '' He then proceeds : 

 " What name must be given to your English Moss ? (the O. 

 anomalum of H. and T.). I would suggest that of 0. neglectum ! 

 As to your plant from Aberdour, I caimot now satisfactorily dis- 

 tinguish or separate it from that of the true O. anomalum, Bry. 

 Eur. and of Hedwig, and you wall find in the parcel that I have 

 had the pleasure of sending to you, numerous specimens which I 

 gathered during the last summer in the vicinity of Baden Baden 

 and near Strasbourg, which perfectly accord in every respect with 

 your own." 



As regards the name to be given to our indigenous species, I 

 confess thtit I hardly think the one suggested by Dr. Schimper a 

 suitable or appropriate one ; but on discussing this question with 

 my friend Wilson, when on a visit here last week, he very kindly 

 offered to make still further inquiries into the previous history of 



