A WINTER PURSUIT. 
209 
collector how few appliances are required, how to classify his 
specimens and prepare them for the herbarium, where to search 
for material, and what species he may expect to find under 
given conditions; and provides a deal of other information. 
For a most readable and attractive essay on British Mosses 
we are indebted to Sir Edward Fry — a leading light of the 
Selborne Societ}', recently retired from the dignified position 
of the judicial bench. This essay, which should find a place 
on the book-shelves of all Selbornians, is elaborated out of 
a lecture which the author delivered at the Royal Institution 
last year. 
A book of another type, dealing purely wdth classification, 
is Hobkirk’s Synopsis of British Mosses, the only English work 
which contains all the British species (some 570 in number) and 
their scientific descriptions. One of its greatest drawbacks is 
that it has no simplified, analytical key by which you can 
rapidly refer your specimen to its proper genus and species. 
But this deficiency has been supplied by the Rev. H. G. 
Jameson in his Key to the Genera and Species of British Mosses, which 
appeared in the Journal of Botany last year, and is now to be had 
as a separate publication. Its leading feature is that, being 
based as far as possible upon characters other than the fruit, it 
enables us to identify even barren specimens. If Messrs. 
Hobkirk and Jameson could find it possible to unite in author- 
ship for the production of a revised Synopsis, they would 
immensely add to its present acknowledged value. 
A great obstacle to the progress of the beginner is the want 
of adequate illustrations whereby he may check the determina- 
tions to which his deductive faculty shall lead him. Such 
illustrations are to be found in advanced works of higher price 
or less recent date, e.g., Braithwaite's British Moss Flora, 
Wilson’s Bryologia Britannica, &c., for the various merits and 
demerits of which we may refer the reader to p. 6 of Bagnall’s 
Handbook. Those who read French will benefit by the purchase 
of M. Douin’s cheap but clever Nouvelle Flore des Mousses, in 
which are provided a series of analytical tables, simple to use, 
unencumbered by technical terms, and with every character 
illustrated by an explanatory figure introduced into the text. 
Students in or near London should not neglect to avail them- 
selves of the collection of specimens, with descriptions attached, 
which is on view in the botanical gallery of the Natural Histor}'- 
Museum in Cromwell Road. 
In conclusion, the student should be warned that the subject 
is not all plain sailing. He cannot expect to develop suddenly 
into a full-fledged bryologist. He will constantly find himself 
beset with difficulties, and will gain his experience with much 
tribulation. Well for him should he have served his apprentice- 
ship among the flowering plants, and so proceed from the obvious 
to the minute. Let him, however, not be discouraged. The 
study of mosses is one which will grow upon him and become 
