seem to be a singular formation going on. Specimens of foraminifera have been dredged there by Dr. Lukis, apparently in a fossil state, but the particulars have not been satisfactorily determined. The specimens found were probably drifted from the continent of France. In addition to the soil derived from the decomposition and disintegration of all the rocks in all the islands, there are occasionally deposits of some extent, consisting of brick clay, and potters' clay. There are also smaller deposits of kaolin or china clay. All these are derived from veins in the porphyritic rock. Many extensive and thick beds of clay are worked in Jersey, but they offer no characteristic peculiarities. In Guernsey the largest mass of available clay for building and pottery, extends from near St. Martin's church in the south of the island towards the north east, terminating in the lower district near St. John's. There is a vein of kaolin at the Coupée in Sark, and Alderney supplies almost inexhaustible stores of brick clay. Although certainly presenting little of that kind of interest belonging to countries where many varied rocks succeed one another in well-marked order, the Channel Islands are, then, not destitute of geological charms. They may well instruct even the most advanced student, and they are not without sufficient material to amuse the beginner. To the collector of minerals and rocks, there is much of interest in all the islands. Many of the most important minerals have been already alluded to; but as many others have been found, a list is given on the next page that may be useful for reference. It might be largely increased by adding the names of the rarer varieties of such minerals as belong to porphyritic rocks and quartz veins. The metaliferous minerals are rare, and almost confined to Sark and Herm. The rocks named be found in most localities in all the islands. may CHAPTER XII. THE FAUNA AND FLORA OF THE CHANNEL ISLANDS CONSIDERED IN REFERENCE TO THEIR PHYSICAL GEOGRAPHY AND GEOLOGY. It is hoped and believed that the publication of the Natural History lists, in Chapters VIII. and IX., in a state admittedly imperfect, will induce the island naturalists to exert themselves to fill up the lacune. That these are numerous, is a fact of which the collectors themselves are well aware. It is one, however, that requires no excuse. The simple circumstance that STATE OF THE NATURAL HISTORY LISTS. 299 most of the catalogues were made for private use, and were put into the hands of the present writers at a comparatively short notice, anticipates all reasonable objection.* But if the lists be only imperfect measures of the actual Flora and Fauna of the islands, they are, at least, favourable measures of the extent to which, in their various divisions and subdivisions, they have been illustrated by local skill and energy. It is not difficult to anticipate the departments in which they will be least unexceptionable and the points upon which the most work still remains to be done. The fullest and the most sufficient lists are those (as we expect, a priori), of the trees, shrubs, and flowering plants, the grasses, the sedges, and the ferns. The nature of the objects themselves is, to a great extent, the cause of this superior accuracy: to greater extent still, the excellent Manual of Professor Babington. The lists of cryptogamic plants generally are the least perfect of the botanical series, and of these the Fungi, perhaps, require most revision. Of the Fauna, we may mention as the most imperfect departments, some tribes of insects, the smaller crustacea, the annelids, and the acalephæ; although many others require careful examination, and a comparison of the species said to occur in the different islands. Perhaps the lists, as a whole, may be regarded as indicating the peculiarities of Guernsey natural history, rather than that of the Channel Islands generally. This arises from the fact that there are more island naturalists there than in Jersey. That the Fauna and Flora of the islands are those of Normandy and Britany, and that little in the way of novelty is to be expected from even the most microscopic examination, is no reason for neglecting them. It will, no doubt, be found that in spite of much care and attention, most conscientiously exercised, many errors of various kinds have crept into the lists. The explanation above given will, perhaps, be admitted as an excuse; and it is hoped that in a future edition the lists will be as much more correct, as they will certainly be fuller. 300 VALUE OF INSULAR FAUNAS AND FLORAS. Even if every list were complete, and if every species contained in each were a French or an English one, with its equivalent on one or both of the opposite coasts, much would remain for the island naturalist that could only be done in the island itself. Most recent works which go beyond the merest enumeration of species, tell us this; and they do so, by either suggesting or insisting upon the fact, that insular Floras and insular Faunas are invested with an interest of their own, simply because they are insular. In many cases, the smaller the island the more important the phenomena it presents. In its natural productions it either agrees with the nearest point of the nearest continent, or it differs from it; and in either case the fact, whichever it may be, is of interest. Absolute or approximate concordance, like that of the Isle of Wight with Hampshire, is a phenomenon of one kind; extreme difference, like that between Madeira and the coast of Morocco, is a phenomenon of another kind; and in skilful hands, as much may be made of the one as of the other. The intermediate case is that now before us. During the collection of the preceding lists, the more prominent questions connected with these matters have never been wholly overlooked; these prominent points more especially meaning, to the English reader at least, the speculations of the late Edward Forbes respecting the distribution of plants and animals over the British Islands, and those of Mr. Vernon Wollaston, upon the effects of what may be called insulation (i. e., exposure to the influences of island), in the development of varieties-varieties which, in many cases, are of sufficient extent to engender the appearance of specific differences. In respect to the first of these questions, it is not only beyond a doubt, but transparently clear, on even a cursory inspection, that the natural history of the islands is French rather than English. It is not only more French than English, but it is "decidedly French-French, however, with several notable points of difference. It is the insularity (the islandhood, so to say), of |
