106 THE VICTORIAN NATURALIST. 



MOSSES OF VICTORIA, WITH BRIEF NOTES. 



By D. Sullivan, F.L.S., Head Teacher State School, 

 Moyston. 



( Read before the Field Naturalists^ Club of Victoria, %th Aui^ust, 



1887.; 



"At this moment, painful as my reflections were, the extra- 

 ordinary beauty of a small moss irresistibly caught mv eye, and, 

 though the whole plant was not larger than the tip of one of 

 my fingers, I could not contemplate the delicate conformation 

 of the roots, leaves, etc., without admiration. Can that Being, 

 I thought, who planted, watered, and brought to perfection in 

 this obscure part of the world a thing of so small importance, 

 look with unconcern upon the situation and sufferings of 

 creatures formed after His own image ? Surely not. Reflec- 

 tions such as these would not allow me to despair. I 

 started up, and, disregarding both hunger and fatigue, travelled 

 forward, assured that relief was at hand, and I was not disap- 

 pointed." — MuNGo Park. 



In bringing forward a series of papers on the mosses of 

 Victoria my object is twofold — to endeavour to create an interest 

 in a comparatively neglected though charming class of plants, 

 and to do something — no matter how imperfectly — to forward 

 the interests of the Club of which I have been for some time a 

 useless member. 



Mosses appear at first sight, after a few of the leading forms 

 have been selected, to bear a strong family resemblance. But 

 this is more apparent than real, for when examined under the 

 microscope they present variations as appreciable as those 

 characterising the higher forms of phoenogamous plants ; 

 while, at the same time, it must be confessed that many of the 

 species, especially of the genera Bryum, Tortula, Bartramia, 

 Dicranum, Grimmia, and Hypnum might advantageously be 

 amalgamated, and the nomenclature might also be much 

 improved. A boy, for instance, brings me a moss which, taken 

 as a whole — roots, stem, fruit, and all — measures about one inch, 

 and I inform him that the botanical name is Raphidorrhynichum 

 Schwaegrichetiianum. He naturally adds (in an undertone^ of 

 course) " etcetera," and resolves to have nothing more to do 

 with such barbarous names. On this account I have taken the 

 very unusual course of explaining the technical terms used in 

 my papers. At the present stage of discovery it would be 

 premature to give even an approximate estimate of the number 

 of species in our colony. My own efforts have been confined 

 to the Grampians, Pyrenees, Gippsland, and the North-Eastern 

 Districts, from which I have gathered above 200 species, 30 of 

 which have proved new to science. 



