348 ^otang. 



class is developed at the season when most other vegetation 

 is at rest, and therefore uninteresting ; here then may the 

 zealous botanical tourist still continue his study with as much 

 ardour as in the summer ; and derive pleasure and edifica- 

 tion from the contemplation of the various gay and modest 

 tints of those minute works of the Creator, when the casual 

 observer will find nothing to attract his attention from the 

 general business of a wintry landscape. Those who would 

 acquaint themselves with the Mosses and Lichens of the 

 lake and mountain districts, will need some degree of per- 

 severance and sure-footediiess in exploring the dark ravines 

 and cavernous fissures of the moist and sHppery rocks, and 

 of the gloomy woods where these delight to grow : and will 

 meet with perhaps the greatest variety, and those in the 

 highest perfection, where the sun shines seldomest and the 

 rain or spray from the waterfall falls oftenest among them. 

 For it should be remembered that no satisfactory progress 

 can be made in collecting and distinguishing the crypto- 

 gamia when the plants are shrivelled by drought. 



No little energy will be requisite, also, to hunt out the 

 lichens — some of which are found inhabiting almost every 

 rood of undisturbed ground from the verge of the ocean to 

 the storm-beaten summits of the highest mountains. And 

 last, not least, very considerable patience is necessary to 

 duly investigate and decipher the microscopic stamp of 

 family, so minutely but distinctly impressed upon every 

 specific member of the whole tribe of both mosses and 

 lichens ; and a great many are too small to be accurately 

 determined by the naked eye. But to the enthusiast in 

 botany, the pleasing excitement of the pursuit, and the 

 gratification of the capture, well reward the fatigues of the 

 search. 



Mr. W. J. Linton has produced a very excellent little 



