(Geaciiion) 
NOTES ON THE MAMMALS OF THE CHANNEL 
ISLANDS. 
By R. H. Bunrine. 
Ir is surprising that so little attention has been paid to the 
critical study of the Channel Islands Mammalia. One would 
have expected that the intensely interesting results which were 
obtained by collectors on such islands as St. Kilda, Skomer 
Island, the Hebrides, and the Orkneys, would have led to a 
thorough investigation of all the smaller islands lying round our 
coasts, and that the Channel Islands, on account of their easy 
access and pleasant situation, would have been among the first 
to be worked. As it is, however, no well-authenticated list of 
local species appears to be available, except such as occurs in the 
latest edition of Ansted and Latham’s ‘ Channel Islands,’ pub- 
lished in 1893, which is by no means a critical one. Since this 
was so, and because the National Collection was exceptionally 
poor in specimens from these islands, I was induced to spend my 
short vacation there, in the earlier part of last summer, for the 
purpose of collecting. Unfortunately my visit had to be too 
brief to put in more than a fortnight on Jersey and three days . 
on Guernsey. 
Specimens of the following species which I brought back are 
now in the National Collection, after having been critically 
examined by Mr. Gerrit 8. Miller :— 
From JERSEY. 
Mote (Talpa europea) occurs in all parts of the island, 
some fields being completely overrun by it. Coloured varieties 
(saffron-tinted) are occasionally found. 
Common SuHrew (Sorex araneus) is fairly frequent, and shows 
a slight insular variation in the anterior breadth of the palate. 
Jersey specimens, as is usual with this animal, vary in colora- 
tion, those with the darker upper side sharply differentiated 
from the predominating lighter under side. 
