170 ZOOrilYTES OF GUERNSEY. 



criminately to any object that presents itself, and if it 

 afterwards [)roves unsuitable, the animal perishes. 



The Charniel Islands have long been reckoned among the 

 most ])r()dnctive localities for marine life in all its infinite 

 variety of forms ; and during the last fifty years nearly all 

 the authors of the best text-books on different branches of 

 British marine zoology have collected on the spot the treasures 

 of our coast. Among these was the Kev. Thomas Hincks, 

 whose splendid monograph on the Polyzoa I have already 

 had occasion to mention. In this book he records a large 

 number of species discovered by himself in Guernsey, some of 

 them species of very great rarity. It was the extent and 

 fullness of these records that first suggested to my mind the 

 desirability of compiling a local list for publication in the 

 Transactions of our Society. But I found that many very 

 common species w^ere not specifically noted in the monograph 

 as occurring here, simply because they are described as 

 "abundant everywhere," — so I did my best to fill up these 

 gaps by a little shore-collecting in Guernsey. The notes on 

 the local distribution of many of the commoner species which 

 I thus gathered may be useful to future students, if only by 

 showing how much still remains to be done in this direction. 



When I had the pleasure, this last summer (1906), of 

 making the acquaintance of the distinguished veteran naturalist, 

 the Rev. Canon A. M. Norman, F.R.S., who was revisiting 

 the Channel Islands after a long interval, I asked him if he 

 would assist me in making the Guernsey record as perfect as 

 possible, and he most kindly responded to my request by 

 furnishing me with a complete classified list of all the species 

 found by him on our coast (including a considerable number 

 not recorded for this island by Hincks), prefaced by the 

 following valuable remarks : — 



" The following is a list of the Polyzoa which have been 

 found on and off the coast of Guernsey. Where localities are 

 known from the other Channel Islands they have been added, 

 but little is known respecting the Jersey species. The Poly- 

 zoa in my own collection were procured in the years 1854, 

 1859 and 1865. The species which were found by Hincks 

 are indicated by his initials, T.H. ; and in those cases where 

 no initials follow the name, it will be understood that it rests 

 on my own authority. The catalogue is a full one, and 

 embraces most of the southern species of our British fauna. 

 It has been thought best to follow the classification of 

 Mr. Hincks, although subsequent more intimate investigation 

 on the structure of the class has proved that arrangement to 



