86 THE ESSEX NATURALIST
gists than the latter (see Fig. 1). The chalk of Grays and Pur-
fleet and the north-west of Essex has proved most fruitful.
Rose (1951) states that 294 true mosses had been recorded
for Kent with its extensive chalklands and varied soils, this
compares with 206 for Essex. St. John Marriot (1926) said that
203 species had been recorded for Essex. The present flora has
267 true mosses, which shows that some recording has been done
since 1926. Some have disappeared and some have come into
the county or at least had been missed until now. An example
of this would be the finding at Ongar Park Wood and Ivy Wood,
Terling, of Hypnum lindbergii in 1967 (S. T. Licence & K. J.
Adams).
Possibly the North-east corner of the county would prove
very fruitful if it could be worked more efficiently.
Collectors
The earliest records that we have at our disposal were those
made by Edward Forster (1765-1849). He collected chiefly in
the southern parts of Epping Forest and his specimens are pre-
served in the British Museum (Natural History), (Ward, 1956).
F. Y. Brocas (1874) collected in the Saffron Walden area and his
herbarium is in the Saffron Walden Museum (Whitehouse, MS.)
E. G. Varenne (1811-1887) worked in the Kelvedon district, his
collection being now in the Passmore Edwards Museum, Strat-
ford, London (Marquand, 1891). A. Greenwood (1821-1862)
collected in the Chelmsford area; many of the records in his paper
(1845) were not given exact locations and were just stated to be
"near Chelmsford." I have included these but with the know-
ledge that, where the exact spot has not been stated, they might
be either V.C 18 or V.C. 19, as the line separating the two vice-
counties passes through Chelmsford. Other bryologists of this
period were E. M. Holmes (1843-1930) with a list of Mosses of
Hatfield Forest (1890), the professional collector J. L. English
(1820-1888) and E. S. Salmon (1900). At the latter end of the
19th century, H. N. Dixon (1861-1944), who was born at Wick-
ham Bishops, contributed many records particularly in that
district. Grimmia commutata which he discovered on a tiled
roof in his home town, has not been seen since. I have, however,
omitted reference to species in his paper (1898) where he only
gave "North Essex" as a locality.
At the beginning of this century F. J. Chittenden (1906) pub-
lished two papers in The, Essex Naturalist, "The Bog Mosses of
Essex" and "The Mosses of Essex"; these were considered very
complete at the time. Since then, as the county is so near Lon-
don, many bryologists have found time to record their finds. W.
R. Sherrin (1871-1955), Curator of the South London Botanical
Institute where his collection is now housed, occasionally visited
the county. He published two papers, "The Mosses of Essex"
and "The Hepatics of Essex" in The Essex Naturalist (1931), and