TALBOT723

Croft.
Oct: 28^th 1816.

Notwithstanding the great authority of Hedwig, ¹ Dear Sir, I still fancy that Dicranum rigidulum will not prove a good species: – and as to Gymnost: obtusum, I have it twice under Hooker’s ² hand, & once under that of Turner, ³ that it is only G: Heimii. Gymn: truncalutum[?] & intermedium are one & the same – it being very subject to variation in the sporangium. You must not put the slightest confidence in Smith. ⁴ Eng: Bot^y paid well, & this is all he appears to have cared for. Hooker, after much trouble, has procured for me a work by Weber & Mohr ⁵ – which has confirmed so many conjectures of my own, that I will not incur the suspicion of vanity by enumerating them. We must wait with all the patience we can muster for the joint work of D^r Taylor & Hooker, ⁶ w^h will, one may speak confidently, be the best muscology in existence, as far as it goes. I am ab^t to send him a little moss, which has always appear^d to me the Dicr: Fissidens sub-basileris[?] of Hedwig – differing from his figure only in the inclination of the capsule. His is represented & described as erect: – so is mine in a young state. If you have not Hedwig’s Spec^es Muscor: ⁷ I cannot refer you to a figure. What tends greatly to confirm me in my opinion is his fig. of Fiss: taxifolius which is very bad – the capsule being different, toto cælo[?] from the real plant. This blunder leads me to suspect another, & that he has never seen my plant when young: – after the separation of the operculum, the capsule droops – but, I suspect, not ’till that time.

I never gathered [Antin^m?] orontium. Specimens were sent to me out of Sussex. Weber & Mohr confirm my suspicions of Cyathea regia[?] & fragilis being one & the same. The Botanical season is now drawing towards a conclusion. Fortunately Mosses are always to be had in all weathers – & are never too old for investigation.

This country is, of all others I ever witnessed, the most unfavorable to our pursuit. I have resided in it 3 years, & have, in my rambles, seen nothing worth notice. Such as it is, I shall be glad to shew it to you, whenever you can favor me with y^r company. My Duplicates may be of some use, & you shall use them as you like.

Dear Sir, very truly yours
James Dalton.

W. H F. Talbot Esq^re
Castleford
Ferry-bridge.