34 Boston Journal of Natural History. 



collected, as will be seen, in the vicinity of Boston ; many of which were 

 presented to me by different friends, and others collected by myself. Those 

 about which I entertained doubts, were compared with authentic American, 

 British and European specimens, in several herbaria, especially in rich col- 

 lections of B. D. Greene, to whose generosity and cooperation I am most 

 particularly indebted. For their systematic arrangement, I have mainly 

 followed the Synopsis of Genera adopted by Hooker in the second volume 

 of the British Flora, Part I." 



Mr. Russell enumerates about 112 species, though doubt- 

 less his catalogue will receive further additions on more ex- 

 tended observations. Of these, there are two species of 

 Phdscum, minute and almost microscopic mosses, and there- 

 fore readily overlooked, or if seen, as it were, by accident. 

 Of their kindred, in diminutive size, the Gymnostoma, three 

 species, A single species of Splachnum, (Spl. ampullaceum) 

 found in Great Britain also: discovered in Essex county of this 

 State, by Mr. Oakes. Of the delicate needle-shape leaved 

 WeissecE, four species; of Dicranum, nine species, with a single 

 species of Fissidens. Of the beautiful Brya, thirteen spe- 

 cies — little gems of mosses, growing in almost every situa- 

 tion : on roofs of houses, by the road-side, in garden walks, 

 on the soil of plants under pot culture, beside streams of 

 water, and in swamps. The genus Leskea has six species 

 enumerated ; and its closely kindred genus, Hypnum, twenty- 

 eight species, while several other genera are represented in 

 considerable numbers. 



The beauty of the mosses, even on a cursory study, or 

 rapid and hasty glance, must have always struck those who 

 are interested in floral pursuits, with admiration ; and could 

 they be cultivated in half their loveliness, like the higher 

 forms of flowerless vegetation, they would signalize the cul- 

 turist. The nearest approach to such attention, is in the 

 rearing of the pretty trailing Lycopodium helveticum, whose 

 flat leaf-stems and silvery thread-like rootlets, make a charm- 

 ing addition to those various species of tropical, herbaceous 

 ferns, which some amateurs delight to rear; for instance, 

 Achrostichum alcicorne, with species of Asplenium, Pteris, 

 and the like. X. 



