INTRODUCTION. xxv 



specimens and remarks that have been of great use to us. 

 As, however, these have, in every instance, been recorded under 

 the plants, which, by their means, have been illustrated, we shall 

 here content ourselves with acknowledging various liberal com- 

 munications of the late Dr. Swartz, among foreign Botanists, and 

 among those of our country, of Mr. Dawson Turner, whose 

 valuable Herbarium has been freely offered to our use, and whose 

 numerous communications and corrections have stamped a value 

 on our book which it could not otherwise have possessed. 



Since our main object in the following pages has been to assist 

 the student of Muscology in the investigation of the species of 

 these isles, we have given in the body of the work such generic 

 and specific characters, and remarks upon each, as we think 

 necessary for their discrimination, without entering into such 

 details as would swell our book to an inconvenient size, or make it 

 tedious by long and dry descriptions. To these we have added 

 figures, drawn by ourselves with the utmost care, and engraved 

 by an artist* of high talents under our immediate inspection, of 

 every species, when necessary, both of the natural size and mag- 

 nified. In some of the larger tribes, such as the Hypna, and a 

 few others, whose characters are founded principally on their 

 foliage, the leaves only have been generally represented magnified, 

 otherwise the price of the book must have been considerably 

 enhanced by the additional number of plates. The English 

 language has been preferred for this work, because we know 

 many naturalists, who pursue the study of this pleasing branch of 

 natural history with the most unwearied industry, who are, never- 

 theless, in a situation of life which has precluded them from ac- 

 quiring the knowledge of any but their native tongue. We have, 

 however, given a synoptical Table of the Genera in Latin. 

 The method here employed, is founded upon that of Lamarck and 



* Mr. W. C. Edwards of London. 



