476 KEPT I LI A, HATRACIIIA, AND MAMMALIA. 



Rabbit. ( Local name as French, Lap'ui.) Common, and {^-encrallj distri- 

 buted in all the islands. At Herm, where it abounds, it is preserved, 

 and a black variety is stronf:^ly represented there. Any local variation 

 which the rabbit might offer would not now be of service to the naturalist, 

 for the owners of warrens in diff(>rent parts have lately introduced the 

 so-called " Belgian Hare," whi(;li crossing readily witli the rabbit, lias 

 marred its zoological characters. 



Hare. (Local name as French, Lih-re.) Occurs in Jersey only, and is now 

 scarce. Up to about 1870 or even 1880, it was very plentiful, and in 

 every old-fashioned country kitchen, rows of hare's tails tacked to the 

 smoke-tinted beam overhead marked each season's trophies of the guimer. 

 As it became scarce its ranks were now and then reinforced by imported 

 stock, but now it is apparently on the verge of extinction. In Guerns(;y 

 it used to occur not uncommonly forty or fifty years ago, but has ceased 

 to exist there for a long time. 



Fox. (Local name as French, Renard.) Formerly fairly numerous in Jersey. 

 Up to 1860 or 1862 it used to occur throughout the island, breeding even 

 as near the town as Surville and Samares, but from that period it raj^idly 

 became scarce, and is now almost certainly extinct. The last specimen 

 I remember seeing was one killed at St. Brelade's in 1870 ; very probabl}' 

 the last of its race. 



This, as far as can be ascertained with certainty, 

 completes the list of species in these islands belonging to the 

 classes dealt Avitli in this paper. There are other species 

 which could reasonably be expected to occur here, such as the 

 harvest mouse, the dormouse, the weasel, and the water-shrew, 

 but there is no record of their having been found at any time 

 within our area. 



I have promised to discuss the probable causes that have 

 led to the evolution of two species of vole in our islands, but 

 the task is a difficult one, for while all naturalists are agi-eed 

 as to the fact that islands often possess species of their own, 

 the masters do not agree with regard to the factoi's which 

 bring about such results. 



The Rev. J. G. GuUick holds that throughout nature 

 " there is an inherent tendency to variation in certain divergent 

 lines, and that when one portion of a species is isolated, even 

 though under identical conditions, that tendency sets up a 

 divergence wdiich carries that portion farther and farther away 

 from the original species." 



This view has many adherents, but it is not the one held 

 by Darwin and Wallace. More to the point is the following, 

 which T quote from Wallace's Danvinisni: — 



" On the whole then, we conclude that, Avhile isolation is 

 an important factor in effecting some modification of species, 

 it is so, not on account of any effect produced, or influence 

 exerted by isolation pei' .v<?, but because it is ahvays and 

 necessarily accompanied by a change of environment, both 

 physical and biological. Natural selection will then begin to 



