230 Dr. E. Koeliler on the Littoral Fauna of the 



long time paid attention to those animals. But at Guernsey 

 and Herm I shall indicate some interesting species which have 

 not yet been found at Jersey. 



In this memoir, therefore, I evidently cannot pretend to 

 present an exact and complete picture of the fauna of the 

 Anglo-Norman islands. But I have determined to publish 

 these observations, incomplete as they may be — in the iirst 

 place, because no one has ever made known the fauna of these 

 islands in a satisfactory manner (the only list of animals which 

 has been published is in the work of Ansted and Latham, and 

 is too fanciful [fantaisiste) to be of any use to zoologists), and, 

 secondly, because works upon local faunas are rather rare, espe- 

 cially in France, in consequence of wliich we know the fauna 

 of our coasts on the Channel and the Atlantic only in a very 

 imperfect manner. Works of this kind, when they are isolated, 

 evidently possess only a purely local interest ; but a collection 

 of works treating of the fauna of distinct regions, and in 

 which one can compare, on the one hand, the list of the 

 animals found at a given point, and, on the other, the nature 

 of the ground, the geological constitution of the soil, the 

 marine currents, the temperature, and in general all the factors 

 which influence the geographical distribution of animals, such 

 a collection of works would possess great interest. It is to 

 be hoped that now, when all the young zoologists make a 

 point of going to work on the sea-coasts, our shores of the 

 Channel and Atlantic will by degrees be explored in detail. 

 Every one must see the interest attaching to these works of 

 pure zoology, and they are now of absolute necessity. 



Before commencing the exposition of the fauna of the 

 Channel Islands I have an important remark to make. As 

 may be seen by running through the list of species which I 

 have collected during my travels, the fauna of these islands 

 includes a great number of distinct forms. But it has seemed 

 to me that, while the species are pretty numerous, on the other 

 hand the representatives of any given species are much less 

 so, and as regards the numher of specimens the fauna is com- 

 paratively poor. There are evidently a certain number of 

 species which are common everywhere and which must not 

 be taken into account when we wish to take a general view of 

 the fauna of a locality. Of course I except certain exceptionally 

 rich stations, where the species are very varied and represented 

 by numerous individuals, as in the caves of Sark and the 

 shell- sand of Herm *. 



* I was fortunate enough to meet at Jersey a man who has occupied 

 himself for several years with the study of marine animals — Mr. Sinel, 



