'MC) !^IM1)FJ{S OF (M'KIJXSKV. 



amount of work done in any (listri(;t of England, according to 

 my experience in the past. ... I look upon the sup})Osed 

 rarity or abundance of numbers of Bi-itish spiders, as mostly 

 affected by the question : who has been Avorking at the 

 subject ? When we find that you may count on your fingers 

 about all the workers in England, and out of these not more 

 than two or three who can be said to have really worked a 

 district ; and fui'ther considering that whole (counties, especially 

 sea-boards, have never yet been touched, it is certain that any 

 conclusions as to the absolute rarity or otherwise of any given 

 species throughout the country, can be but of little value. At 

 some future time, when the present scanty mmiber of sj)ider 

 collectors shall have, I hope, very greatly increased, it may 

 then be possible to generalise." 



At the end of the list of spiders will be found the names 

 of a few other species of Arachnids which I have met with in 

 the course of my collecting. They belong to the two allied 

 orders, Phahnigidea and Chernetidea. In both cases compara- 

 tively few species are known in this country, only about 

 24 species of Phalangidea being British, and something like 20 

 species of Chernetidea. The latter order appears to be but 

 poorly represented in Guernsey, as I have met Avith less than a 

 dozen specimens altogether, though no doubt more would 

 be found if special search Avere made. The Harvestmen, on 

 the contrary, abound everywhere as individuals especially in 

 autumn, but not in great variety ; little attention however has 

 been given to them. Mr. Pickard-Cambridge is the author of 

 an exhaustive monograph upon each of these orders, and 

 I am indebted to him for the identification of all my specimens. 



Enough has been done to shoAv that the Arachnidanfauna 

 of these islands is a peculiarly interesting one, and there 

 is still a promising field for future study. Several years 

 however of patient and persistent research will be required 

 before anything like an approximately complete list can 

 be compiled, because numbers of species are singularly 

 uncertain in their appearance, Avhilst others are so minute that, 

 except by the practised eye of a specialist, they are readily 

 overlooked among the multitude of young ones of all kinds 

 Avhich abound at every season of the year. 



The Arachnida of Guernsey enumerated in the following- 

 pages amount to 201 species, divided as follows : Spiders, 

 190 species ; Phalangidea, 8 species ; Chernetidea, 3 species. 

 The total number recorded for the whole of the Channel 

 Islands amounts to 230 species, viz. : Spiders, 217 species ; 

 Phalangidea, 10 species, and Chernetidea, 3 species. 



