BOTANY 1900, including about 50 species. The writer is greatly indebted to the above-named gentlemen for their assistance, as well as to Mr. H. D. Geldart, Mr. Clement Reid and others for help given in various ways. It will readily be understood from the foregoing that our knowledge of the bryology of the county is sadly incomplete. In the early part of the century the galaxy of scientific names that brought Norfolk, botani- cally speaking, into the forefront of the English counties included several bryologists of great ability and repute, among whom may be named Sir W. J. Hooker, Sir J. E. Smith, Dickson, Dawson Turner, T. Palgrave, Rev. G. R. Leathes and F. K. Eagle. And it is probable that at that time scarcely any English county had had its mosses more carefully studied. During the time that has since elapsed the study of bryology has made immense advances, owing to the labours especially of W. Wilson in this country, and of Schimper, Lindberg and many others on the continent. Unhappily the study in our county has not only failed to keep pace with this advance, but has been absolutely at a standstill, and now it must be confessed that there are few counties about which our recent bryological information is so inadequate. The collections lately made and referred to above have, it is true, added considerably to our knowledge, but it is obvious that rapidly made gatherings by independent workers must result in much duplication of records, and the number of species thus recorded for a district will always be inconsiderable in proportion to the number of specimens obtained, when compared with what may be done by systematic observation by even a single resident worker acquainted with what has been already accomplished by previous botanists. The total number of species known from Norfolk, when all the above sources are collated, amounts to about 170, a very inadequate list when the variety of surface of the county and the natural advantages afforded by its physiography are taken into account. It is true that the atmospheric humidity, so favourable to moss-life, which is found in the more mountainous western districts is here wanting ; and the entire absence of anything like hard rock naturally exposed prevents the occurrence of a large number of species ; but in spite of these disadvan- tages the district is one that might be expected to yield a good number of mosses. The long stretches of sand by the coast, the numerous Sphagnum bogs, the extensive sandy heaths, the marshy lands by the broads, the strip of fenland on the west, are all habitats favourable to moss-life ; and it may confidently be predicted that systematic investiga- tion would not only add considerably to our present list, but would bring Norfolk well into the foremost rank of at least the lowland counties of England. It is a noteworthy fact that several of our British mosses were first recorded in Norfolk, the most interesting instance of the kind being that of Buxbaumia aphylla. This extraordinary moss, which seems to run counter to every rule of the economy of moss-life, was first discovered in a fir plantation at Sprowston near Norwich, by Sir W. J. Hooker, in 63
