58 HISTOUY OF BllITISH MOSSES. 



We can only refer in passing to the labours, in this de- 

 partment, of two of our most distinguished countrymen, 

 Drs. Greville and Arnott. These were brought to light in 

 " A new arrangement of the genera of Mosses," published 

 in 1834 in the fourth and following volumes of the Trans- 

 actions of the Wernerian Society, and accompanied by most 

 interesting information regarding some obscure genera. 



Let us now pass on to the method of classification em- 

 ployed in what may be regarded our standard authorities in 

 British Muscology — the ' Muscologia Britannica' of Drs. 

 Hooker and Taylor, and ' British Flora,' vol. ii. part 1, by 

 the former of these gentlemen. It is founded entirely on the 

 structure of the capsule and its component parts, and the 

 relative position of the seta and branches; as any charac- 

 ters derivable from the male flowers or gemmae are entirely re- 

 jected. We are told, in the former of the works referred to 

 above, that it " is founded on that of Lamarck and De Can- 

 dolle, in their ' Flore Franpaise' and ' Flora Gallica,' and such 

 as has already been adopted in the Monograph of the Bri- 

 tish Jungermannia3." This system has been defined by the 

 talented author of the article " Musci" in the ' Encyclopsedia 

 Edinensis,' as one ''more likely to last than any hitherto 

 proposed." While it is undoubtedly in some respects very 



