INTRODUCTION. 3 



and species; the moss flora of our own islands alone 

 numbering about 140 genera and nearly 600 species, be- 

 sides varieties without end. A superficial observer would 

 probably be astonished if he were to have pointed out to 

 him the varied species to be found upon a few square feet 

 of a bank " with bright green mosses clad," because to him 

 a moss is a moss and nothing more; and yet in such a 

 limited area twenty or more species may often be found ; 

 and many a district that at first sight seems able to yield 

 but a poor moss flora may by a little diligence be proved 

 to be quite prolific. A limited district of some 3,500 acres 

 has yielded the writer nearly 130 species of these plants, all 

 of them beautiful and some of them very rare. 



Then it must be remembered that mosses are easily pre- 

 served, usually retain their special characters even when 

 dried, may be prepared for the herbarium, and packed in 

 comparatively small compass, and may be examined at any 

 time ; for, however shrivelled they may have become by 

 long keeping, a few minutes' soaking in tepid water will 

 restore them to most of their former beauty, their lovely 

 leaves again expand, the minute cells of which they are 

 built are again filled with fluids, and with the aid of the 

 microscope all their details may be made out as readily as 

 though they had been gathered but an hour ago, so that for 

 real and minute study this may truly be called a fireside 

 one. 



For the sake of those who would wish to commence the 

 study, but lack the knowledge how to begin, when and 

 where to seek their plants, and how to distinguish them 

 when found, these hints have been written, and I shall 

 endeavour, as clearly as I can, to supply a few elementary 

 lessons in moss collecting, etc. 



