•Z HISTOllY OF BRITISH MOSSES. 



than towards the close of the seventeenth century, "^vhen the 

 celebrated Eay, by his elaborate works, gave a vast impetus 

 to botanical research. Following him at the inter\al of 

 from forty to sixty years, we find Dillenius of Oxford, and 

 the great Linnseus, elucidating still further the structure 

 and classification of these minute members of the vegetable 

 kingdom. The former of these authors, however imperfect 

 his knowledge of the subject is regarded at the present day, 

 has left an imperishable memorial of his talents and industry 

 in the ' Historia Muscorum,^ illustrated by a series of plates, 

 whose accuracy is in some instances still unsurpassed. The 

 defects of his system however will at once be perceived, 

 when we mention that he classed among Mosses such plants 

 as Lichens and Confervae. 



It was reserved for Hedwig, a German botanist, in 1782, 

 to withdraw the veil that had hitherto obscured the science 

 of Muscology, and by his microscopic researches, in inves- 

 tigating the structure and fructification of these minute 

 plants, to open up a field untrod by any of liis predecessors. 

 As we proceed we shall have occasion to avail ourselves of 

 the stores of knowledge he thus disclosed. 



Since his day many botanists of note have devoted them- 

 selves to the study of Bryology, among whom we especially 



