24. GUERMNSE Y. 
excellent preservation at the present time shows that the collection 
has always been in good hands. 
Evidence of the former occurrence in Guernsey of eleven species 
which are now certainly extinct is afforded by specimens preserved 
in this collection, and, as the localities where they were found are 
specified, there is no doubt about their belonging to this island. Six 
plants peculiar to Alderney are mentioned in the printed list, from 
which it would appear that Gosselin intended it to comprise as far as 
possible the flora of the entire Bailiwick of Guernsey, and not merely 
of the island of Guernsey alone. A few of the names are certainly 
erroneous, and some others are doubtful, but these form only a 
small percentage of the species recorded, and do not seriously 
impair the value of the list. 
It is pleasant to be able to pay a well-deserved tribute to the 
memory of the old workers like Joshua Gosselin, and to rescue their 
names from oblivion. Too often they have met with scant recogni- 
tion at the hands of their successors. In the preface to the Flora 
Sarnica, after alluding to one or two papers then lately printed 
describing botanical tours in the Channel Islands, Professor 
Babington goes on to say: ‘A catalogue of Guernsey plants, drawn 
up in 1788 by Mr. Gosselin, has been recently published by his 
grandson in Berry’s Aitstory of Guernsey, but without any correction 
or augmentation, and it is very imperfect.’ And so it was cast aside 
and utterly ignored by the young botanist, whose own work in the 
same field, though admirable in its way, has proved by no means 
free from error and imperfection. So far as concerns Guernsey 
alone, we could better afford to-day to blot out every record in the 
Flora Sarnica than lose the Flora Sarniensis of Joshua Gosselin.* 
Very little was known about the distribution of the plants of 
these islands until the year 1839, when Charles Cardale Babington 
brought out his little book entitled ‘ Primitie Flore Sarnice, or an 
Outline of the Flora of the Channel Islands of Jersey, Guernsey, 
Alderney, and Sark.’ A few lists and papers had appeared in the 
journals describing tours and visits, but no attempt had been made 
to deal with the subject systematically; so that Babington broke 
new ground, and his book did much towards directing the attention 
* T am indebted to Miss Carey, of Le Vallon, for tne following particulars of the 
life of this old Guernsey botanist, who was her great-great-grandfather. Joshua 
Gosselin, who was born in Guernsey on November 6th, 1739, was lineally descended 
from the Bailiff of Guernsey, Hellier Gosselin, notorious in the reign of Queen Mary. 
He was the son of Joshua Gosselin and Anne Guille, of St. George. In 1761 he 
married Martha Le Marchant, daughter of Thomas Le Marchant, of Le Bosq, by whom 
he had a large family. He died May 27th, 1813, at Bengeo Hall, Hertfordshire, the 
residence of his eldest surviving son who afterwards became Senior Admiral of the 
British Navy. Gosselin was a skilful artist, and was one of the first Guernseymen to 
take an intelligent interest in the Druidical remains of his native island, as shown bya 
paper, written and illustrated by himself in Avchaeologia, vol. xviii. p. 254. He spent 
much of his time in England, and was personally acquainted with many of the 
celebrities of his day. . 
