344 PRESIDENTIAL ADDRESS. 



single list of species in any department of its fauna has been 

 published in our Transactions. Surely the subject does not 

 lack attractiveness and variety, and the field is almost virgin 

 ground. We want localised lists of shells, of sea anemones, of 

 star-fishes, of Crustacea, of hydrozoa and polyzoa, of sea- 

 worms and sea-slugs, of sponges and other allied low forms of 

 life, in almost every section of which there are to be found in 

 these waters species confined to the Channel Islands. On 

 these rocky shores we have facilities for the study of marine 

 life almost unparalleled on the British coast ; and the geo- 

 graphical position of these islands is peculiarly favourable to 

 the growth and development of species which find here the 

 northernmost limit of their range. The life-histories of many 

 of these curious inhabitants of our shores are totally unknown ; 

 and here again is opened up a fascinating field of research 

 which is practically without boundary. Assuredly, the end of 

 the Society's work is not yet within measurable distance. 



Just a word or two on another subject, ladies and gentle- 

 men, before I conclude. I wish to avail myself of the present 

 opportunity to pay a just tribute to the memory of a man who 

 in his day was a faithful worker, although his work has too 

 long been lost sight of. Permit me to introduce him to 

 you as 



AN OLD GUERNSEY BOTANIST. 



If you refer to Berry's " History of Guernsey," published 

 in the year 1815, you will find that the first appendix on page 

 303 bears a title as follows : " Flora Sarniensis, or Genera of 

 Guernsey Plants arranged alphabetically, after the genera 

 and species of Hudson's Flora Anglica, by the late Josua 

 Gosselin, Esq., a native of the island, 1788 ; and presented to 

 the History of Guernsey by his grandson, Thomas William 

 Gosselin, Esq." Then follows a catalogue of names without 

 note or comment of any kind. I have spent a good deal of 

 time over this list, studying and analysing it, and puzzling out 

 its quaint, obsolete names ; but I will not trouble you at 

 present with more than a brief outline of this early contribu- 

 tion to the botanical literature of Guernsey. 



Of the personal and family history of Josua Gosselin I 

 have no knowledge whatever. All I know is that he was a 

 close and accurate observer, as well as a botanist of no mean 

 ability. He was the contemporary of Linnaeus, of Gilbert 

 White of Selborne, and of William Hudson, whose Flora 

 Anglica established in England the Linnaean principles of 

 botany. 



