82 THE FLORA OF JETHOU. 



The species of Rub us I take from Prof. Babington's list; they 

 were not in flower, so I did not bring away specimens. I was 

 astonished to observe the size of many of the trees, especially 

 Spanish chestnuts and sycamores, soma of them being of 

 considerable age, and of finer growth than would be expected 

 on such a wind-swept island. I insert the trees in the list, 

 although the majority have certainly been planted. 



The appended list will hardly give an accurate general idea 

 of the native vegetation of Jethou, for the reason that a 

 number of those which figure, such as, for example, Bellis 

 perennis, Plantago coronopus, Senecio sylvaticus, and other 

 abundant species, are extremely scarce here, and require a 

 careful search to see at all. Hence it would seem that in the 

 grim struggle for life many plants, which still occur in 

 profusion on the cliff sides of Guernsey, are being slowly but 

 surely crowded out of existence in Jethou by their stronger 

 and more numerous neighbours. In this little island we can 

 perceive the gradual change which is taking place in the 

 vegetation of all countries, great and small, and the slow 

 extinction of species by purely natural means, apart altogether 

 from human agency. It is quite likely that in a couple of 

 centuries many of the wild plants now rare in Jethou will 

 have vanished altogether, and their place will be taken, not by 

 new colonists, but by the old established and firmly rooted 

 denizens of the soil. 



Notwithstanding what I have said about the islands differ- 

 ing inter se, it is clear that Herm and Jethou botanically form 

 part of Guernsey. Alderney would, I imagine, show a much 

 closer relation to the adjacent French coast; whilst Jersey 

 would in all probability approximate to France far more 

 nearly than does the Sarnian group. Of the exact position of 

 Sark I am in doubt, having no personal acquaintance with its 

 flora, but I should expect to find there French types unrepre- 

 sented in this island. 



The more attentively the flora of Guernsey is studied, the 

 more apparent becomes the fact that it is much less French 

 in its character than is commonly supposed. Certain it is 

 that since the period when Guernsey — the oldest island 

 relatively — became separated from the mainland, a vast 

 alteration has taken place in the phanerogamic vegetation of 

 the opposite coast. Happily we have abundant and trust- 

 worthy information upon the exact distribution of species on 

 the land nearest the Channel Islands. Two excellent French 

 works are available. One, De Brebisson's "Flore de la 

 Normandie," which has now reached its fifth edition, deals 



