KEPOKTS. 309 



The Secretaries of various Sections read their respective 

 Reports, as follows : — 



REPORT OF THE BOTANICAL SECTION. 



The principal botanical work this year has been done 

 in the island of Herm, where considerable additions have 

 been made to the phanerogamic flora, and a very good 

 list of Mosses and Hepaticre compiled. Full particulars 

 and lists have already been communicated to the Society, 

 and will be found elsewhere in the pages of these Transac- 

 tions. 



As regards Guernsey, there are but few additions to report, 

 because the Flowering Plants and Ferns have been so 

 thoroughly worked up that novelties are not likely to be 

 found very frequently. During this year, however, I have 

 met with three species not hitherto seen within our area. 

 It is true they are Aliens or Casuals, and not true natives ; 

 that is, they are plants which are entirely foreign to our 

 district, although classed among British species ; and they 

 must have been accidentally introduced into the island in 

 some way, perhaps with ballast or agricultural seeds. Very 

 possibly they will not hold their footing in the localities 

 where they were found, but may die away, and perhaps 

 be seen no more for many years. 



Yet it is always advisable to note the occurrence of 

 these fugitive plants (except, of course, when they are 

 obvious escapes from cultivation) because, if they should 

 establish themselves in a locality, as many do, the date of 

 their first appearance will prove of great value to future 

 botanists. For want of doing this in the past we have 

 now no means of knowing when such foreign species as 

 Veronica Buxbaumii and Allium triquetrum (both abundantly 

 distributed in Guernsey) first appeared in the island, although 

 the locality and date of their first appearance in England 

 is well known. And then it must be remembered that every 

 plant now classed as a Denizen or a Colonist was at one 

 time merely a Casual, — a stray weed, which subsequently 

 became established, and in course of years has attained its 

 present rank. 



The three additions to the Guernsey flora are as follows : 



Camelina sativa, L. Gold of Pleasure. One large plant on the coast 



near Mont Crevelt, S. Sampson's, July 30. Unrecorded for the Channel 



Islands. 

 Carum Carui, L. Caraway. Three or four plants on a rubbish heap 



close to the Babbit Warren, in May last. Unrecorded for the Channel 



Islands. 



