could be no reasonable doubt, have been included; but there remain others which, in the present state of our knowledge, can be referred with safety to no recorded character, and several which, there can be little doubt, are entirely new. The discussion of these is reserved for a future opportunity.

"Dr. Wallich's gatherings are necessarily, many of them, of a very mixed character. Unfortunately, it is in these, almost entirely, that there occur new and doubtful forms, which both require and deserve most careful investigation. So scarce are these in the slides, that the difficulties encountered, and the time and labour already expended in the search for sufficient material on which to construct a character, or apply a name, have been sufficiently discouraging; and suggest very emphatically the good service a careful collector might do to science, by devoting his attention to the growing Diatoms of the Channel Islands. It is not, however, to new species alone, or even principally, that this remark may be applied. Almost the entire order requires revision. There are comparatively few species of which we have had copious gatherings even moderately pure; and, though microscopy may be satisfied with a unique valve, natural history requires much more. It is no false estimate to say that such gatherings as those referred to are, in every sense, by far the most valuable to science-are, in fact, essentially the thing of which we stand in need.

"The general character of the gatherings renders it impossible to give exact localities, except in a very few cases.

"The list of fresh-water species is comparatively small, owing to the fact that there were only two or three such gatherings made. Even these have added something to the list of British species; and there can be no doubt that the catalogue now given might readily be increased with advantage, if a little attention were given to the matter. The fresh-water localities mentioned are Moulin Huet, and the mouth of a little rivulet, opening out into Saint's Bay.

"For marine forms, some of the most productive gatherings were from a brownish film of zostera marina, off Salerie battery, at about half-tide mark. Much was found, also, on Algae and Corallina, in the same locality, and elsewhere, in small rocky pools. Skimming the surface of the sea when calm, with a gauze net, generally yielded valuable results; while the several dredgings made in from eight to twenty-four fathoms produced, as will be seen from the list, those rare and fine forms, which have, as yet, only been obtained by that method. The mode in which several of these occur in Dr. Wallich's gatherings is also suggestive. It would be difficult to name a locality more likely to reward with success a diligent search for these things in their natural haunts, than the shores of Guernsey, or, in general, to point to a more desirable field for the collection of Diatomaceæ than the Channel Islands."-T. G. R.

The subjoined view of one of the small picturesque fountains common in the Channel Islands, derives much of its interest from the characteristic vegetation surrounding the rough granite blocks of which the fountain is constructed.

N.B. In the numbers above given, named varieties are counted with the species.

The peculiarities of climate characterising the Channel Islands may be more clearly appreciated by a study of the above table than by any statement. Of the first four groups, which include a large natural division of plants, there are in all eight hundred and ninety species, of which only one hundred and fifty-nine are common to all the islands. As many as two hundred and thirtyeight or 27 per cent. of the species are, however, peculiar to Jersey, while only fifty-two species, or just 6 per cent., are absent in Jersey, but found in either Guernsey, Sark or Herm. These latter islands, in fact, show no essential difference in their phanerogamic flora, and may be looked upon as a group existing under very similar conditions. Alderney is distinct; and it possesses a much richer and more varied fauna than Sark, which equals it in area.

When, however, we pass to the consideration of special tribes characteristic of a moist, clouded climate, we see that Guernsey, though it has not more than half the area of Jersey, almost

equals, or even exceeds that island in the number of species. Thus, of twenty-five known species of ferns found in the islands, twenty-one occur in Guernsey and only twenty in Jersey. Five species are found in Guernsey only, and two in Jersey only. The number and proportions of unnamed varieties would illustrate the same peculiarity in a manner yet more marked, and the richness of fern vegetation is certainly far greater in the smaller, damper, and cloudier, but more temperate island.

Similar evidence will no doubt be derived from the other cryptogamic plants when they shall be more completely known. So far as the lichens and fungi have been examined, they point in the same direction, and the mosses appear to do so too. At present, however, the lists of the species of these tribes are not sufficiently complete to justify any generalisation; and it seems impossible that there should be the excessive difference in them that the lists would indicate, when we consider the near vicinity of the islands and their small dimensions.

The botany of the Channel Islands is worthy of a closer comparative study than it has yet received, and would amply repay the philosophical naturalist, able to view in their mutual relations all the natural groups, and their bearing on physical geography and geology. For the present, these comparisons are merely suggested, but we shall return to them in another chapter.

A consideration of some very important facts concerning various foreign species of plants that readily grow and become almost naturalised in some of the islands, will tend yet further to illustrate the peculiarities of the island climates. These facts will be referred to when speaking of horticulture, in the fourth part of this work. It should, however, be observed here, that several foreign species are already so common in Jersey and Guernsey as to affect the general appearance of the vegetation; and the cultivation now going on in Sark will, perhaps, soon have the same effect in that island.

CHAPTER IX.

THE ANIMALS LIVING IN THE CHANNEL ISLANDS OR IN THE ADJACENT SEAS.

THE Zoology, like the Botany of the Channel Islands, can only be properly understood by a consideration of each separate group, and an account of the actual state of positive information concerning cach. Here, also, a number of active, intelligent naturalists have long been at work, but the published results are comparatively few; and the following pages include a very large amount of matter which will appear in type, in a collected form, for the first time. Each group of animals will be considered, and the authority named for the list of species given. The lists will be in alphabetical order of genera, as being convenient for reference. When confined to particular islands, the same letters as those used in the last chapter, will indicate the islands alluded to. Otherwise the species are found generally in all the islands or their surrounding seas. An asterisk (*) will denote very rare visitants where the fact is clearly known. A mark of interrogation (?) doubtful species; and a dagger (†) introduced species. It is right to state that, while some of the lists are probably almost complete, many of them are only first approximations, and some are given only for one or more of the islands when no definite information has been obtained from the others.