PREFACE. 



THE splendid monograph of "British Junger- 

 manniae " published by Sir W. J. Hooker, in 1816, 

 was the first independent work on the Hepaticae pub- 

 lished in this country, although many species were 

 figured in Smith and Sowerby's English Botany, 

 1790-1814. After that time no attempt was made 

 at the publication of a separate work until 1865. 

 During the interval the Liverworts were included in 

 general Floras, such as Hooker's English Flora, Vol. 

 V., in 1833, but notably in Gray's Arrangement of 

 British Plants in 1821, and in the latter several new 

 genera were proposed, which were wholly ignored 

 down to most recent times. In the year 1865 a 

 small and unpretending little work was issued 

 under the title of " Science Gossip ; easy guide to 

 the study of British Hepaticae," which included 

 brief descriptions of all the species known to date, 



