THE CHANNEL ISLANDS. 17 BY DAVID THOMAS ANSTED, M.A., F.R.S., etc., Late Fellow of Jesus College, Cambridge. AND ROBERT GORDON LATHAM, M.A., M.D., F.R.S., etc. Late Fellow of King's College, Cambridge. WM. H. ALLEN & CO., 13, WATERLOO PLACE, S.W. MDCCCLXV. PREFACE. MORE than four years' residence in Guernsey, -a central position, where frequent opportunities are afforded of visiting Jersey, Alderney, Sark and Herm, and an intimate acquaintance with various Residents in the Channel Islands and Visitors interested in literary and scientific pursuits, have seemed to the Writer to justify him in undertaking the present work. He may be regarded as the general Editor as well as one of the Authors. That the Channel Islands, as a group, deserve and require a monograph, will, it is believed, be admitted without a question. That no treatise, combining a general description of them with a careful account of their Natural History, Ethnology and Archæology, has yet been published, is certain. It is for the public to decide how far the present work is sufficient and satisfactory. The work is divided into four parts. For the first part-a Physical and Descriptive account of the Islands and their Climate-the Editor is alone responsible. With regard to the second part-general Natural History-the case is different. The Editor not being conversant with the details of Botany and Zoology, has sought and obtained the assistance of many friends and acquaintances, residents and visitors, all zealous and able Naturalists, who have communicated the results of their investigations in the most frank and friendly manner. A list of the names of these, and of others to whom the Authors are indebted for information, is published at the end of the preface, and an acknowledgment of the special services of each will be found in the text. The magnitude and importance of the assistance obtained in technical Botany and Zoology will be at once seen by examining the lists of species in Chapters VIII. and IX. The account of the Geology of the Islands is entirely by the Editor. The third part of the book, on the History, Archæology, and Language of the Channel Islands is the exclusive work of Dr. R. G. Latham. He believes that in the doctrine he has advanced concerning the comparative unimportance of the Norse, and the comparative importance of certain other elements of the early history of |