PREFACE TO LIST OF MOSSES, &c. 
HE list of mosses given by Mr. Baker in the first edition 
X of North Yorkshire " (1863) was a very good one, 309 
species are named that were then known to grow in 
this division of the county. These were arranged after the 
method adopted in "Wilson's Bryologia Britannica " (1855), 
which was at that time the best and most comprehensive 
work on the British mosses. 
The "British Moss Flora," by Dr. R. Braithwaite, F.L.S., 
is now completed ; the first part of which was issued in 
1880, and the final part, No. 23, in 1^05. This fine work, in 
3 volumes, contains the description of 680 species arranged 
in 118 genera, and is illustrated by beautiful drawings of all 
the species, which have been recorded in the British Islands. 
All students of mosses will be grateful, and must admire 
the great perseverance of the author, who has been enabled 
to complete so valuable a work in his 8ist year. This will 
probably be the standard work on these plants for many 
years. In revising the list of mosses for North Yorkshire, 
the arrangement and nomenclature adopted by Dr. Braith- 
waite have been followed. 
The moist climate of the British Isles is favourable to their 
growth, and they are well represented by a large number of 
species. We have, however, no endemic mosses peculiar to 
our Islands. The species of the Arctic and Temperate regions 
of the Globe are the predominating forms, many of these are 
found to grow throughout the continent of Europe, and 
extend westward to the Northern United States and Canada, 
and even into the Southern Hemisphere. In New Zealand 
some of our British mosses are found, and the late Dr. 
Spruce, during his explorations in the equatorial regions of 
