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BOOK NOTICES. 



' A Synopsis of the British Mosses : being descriiptions of all 

 the genera and species found in Great Britain and Ire- 

 land to the present date.'— By Charles P. Hobkirk, F.L.S. 

 (Second Edition, revised, corrected, and entirely re-arranged. L. Reeve & Co., 

 1884.) 



No department of botany has been more assiduously worked during the last 

 two or three decades than the mosses. Every year seems to add to the number of 

 energetic students of these interesting and elegant httle plants, and increases our 

 flora with species more or less notable and unexpected. A notion of the progress 

 of the science of bryology cannot be better conveyed than by the simple statement 

 that the Mtiscologia Britannica of Hooker and Taylor, published in 1818, 

 contained descriptions and figures of 190 species, while Wilson's Bryologia 

 Britmmica, which, while purporting to be a new edition of the last, was in fact a 

 work on a much larger scale, published in 1855, contained 444 mosses, and now in 

 the volume before us the number is still further increased to 576 species. 



The want of an efficient handbook on the subject has been long felt and 

 complained of. Wilson's work, excellent in its day and likely to be always 

 valuable, has been for some time quite insufficient, as well as out of print and 

 difficult to obtain. We are therefore glad to see a second edition of Mr. Hobkirk's 

 useful Synopsis. It is a great improvement on its predecessor, and a really 

 convenient and not expensive manual, which may be recommended on its merits 

 10 all collectors, containing descriptions of all the species and most of the varieties • 

 known up to the present time, and it will be found useful even by those who 

 possess larger works, as a companion during a country or mountain tour. 



A good deal of difference of opinion as to the best method of arrangement 

 still exists, and will probably long remain. Meanwhile the author has done 

 wisely in adopting a known standard from Jseger and Sauerbeck's Aduinhratio, 

 instead of increasing confusion by aiming at the praise of originality. This 

 arrangement harmonises sufficiently well with those of Wilson and of Schimper, 

 from whose works he has drawn a great deal, and which would be the works an 

 English student is most likely to meet with. It is to be regretted that a few 

 typical figures of genera, simple in character, after the manner of Sullivant or 

 Schimper, have not been added to the work ; its value to beginners would have 

 been thereby a good deal increased, and yet more by a short introduction 

 explanatory of the general structure of a moss and its various parts. These seem 

 to have been omitted from a desire to keep down the size and price of the book, 

 whichi is ' very commendable ; but three or four plates and as many extra pages 

 ought to have added little to either, and would have given greater completeness to 

 the work. 



Some small points here and there invite complaint. Under Sphagnum 

 ciispidatitm one variety is given, which is very rare, but the two common varieties 

 phiniosiim and falcahtni are omitted, though amongst the first a collector is likely 

 to find, and under other species all the varieties are given. Hymenostonmiii 

 commidatum and Gymnostonmm curvirostntm appear in different genera, for which 

 there seems no reason ; even their specific difference not being very clear (p. 59). 

 Campylopiis Schwarzii is the usual form ; not Swartzii (p. 78). Phascum or 

 Sphcerang'mm imitiaiin is by no means confined to the seaside, but occurs in sandy 

 fields in the midland counties (p. 93). Ulota crispa has the capsule contracted 

 helow the wide-gaping mouth — its most conspicuous character ; but this is missed, 

 and mis-stated as 'contracted at mouth,' just as U. Briichii (p. 132). Neckera 

 Philippeana is found in Berks., Sussex, etc., as well as in the localities given 

 (p. 186). Hookeria IcEtevh-eus is restricted to Cornwall and the Killarney region, 

 etc.; not usual in caves as seems to be implied (p. 188). The insertion of a 

 comma after the word apical, in the fifth line of page 221, makes nonsense of the 

 sentence, and this is the more noticeable as the book is generally so free from 

 typographical errors, and as correctly as it is handsomely printed. The finding 

 of Hypmim dilatatiim in Berkshire (p. 227), seems rather questionable, to say the 

 least. 



But these are little matters, and do not mar the general usefulness of a book 



Naturalist, 



