THE MOSSES AND HEPATIC.E 
OF NORTH YORKSHIRE. 
Revised bv MATTHEW B. SLATER, F.L.S. 
The name moss is widely applied in popular language, being 
given to Club mosses (Lycopodiums and Selaginellas), Urn 
Mosses (Muscineae), Liver-worts (Hepaticae), Fresh water 
and Sea Weeds (Algse), Lichens and Fungi, and even 
sometimes to small tufted flowering plants as the Mossy 
Saxifrages (Saxifraga hypnoides) and the Golden Moss, by 
which common name the Sedum acre or Yellow stonecrop 
is known. 
The " HistOPia MuscoPum " of Dillenius, who was the 
first Sherardian. professor of Botany in the University of 
Oxford, was published at Oxford in 1741. Afterwards 
it was reprinted in Edinburgh in 181 1. This is the 
most comprehensive early work published in Britain. In 
this work all the plants of simple cellular structure then 
known are described, and, to some extent, the whole are 
put into a natural arrangement, commencing with the lower 
forms of the Fresh water weeds (Algae). 
It comprises 20 Genera with a total of 600 species and 
varieties. This book was published before Linneus intro- 
duced his artificial classification of plants. 
As it may be interesting, I give a short abstract of the 
work of Dillenius from the reprinted copy of his work 
published in 181 1, giving the names of the genera with the 
number of species to each, and one description of each as 
Bot. Trans. Y.N.U., Vol. 3. 2 B 
