364 FLORA OF HERM, 



allies then known to be indigenous to Herm, numbering 

 altogether 256 species. Three plants were subsequently 

 added by Mr. Derrick ; but it was my belief that the list 

 could still be increased by systematic research. This 

 conjecture has been sufficiently verified, seeing that, during 

 the visits I am about to describe, no less than 46 additions 

 have been made ; and I am convinced, from indications which 

 have come under my notice, that yet other species remain to 

 be discovered, especially during the late summer and autumn. 

 But even as it is, the flora of Herm is now known to be a 

 very rich and varied one, comprising, as it does, the large 

 number of 305 flowering plants and ferns, all of them growing 

 wild on a small islet only a mile and a half long, and less than 

 a mile across its widest part. 



The more thoroughly we investigate the fauna and flora 

 of these Sarnian islands, taking them as separate and 

 independent areas, the more apparent becomes the fact that 

 they differ from each other in a truly surprising degree. 

 Therefore it is of the utmost importance that the lists of 

 species belonging to each island, and more particularly the 

 lists of insects and plants, should be kept quite distinct 

 from each other, and the distribution and relative frequency 

 of each species carefully and accurately noted. At the 

 present time it is not possible to explain satisfactorily why 

 there should be these peculiar insular differences, or how 

 they have arisen, but they add very materially to the interest 

 and pleasure of the observant naturalist, and some day the 

 riddle will be solved. 



Altogether I spent several weeks in Herm, in company 

 with my wife and my little boy, and we made all possible 

 use of our time. Our two first visits extended from the 

 31st of March to the 7th of April, and after a fortnight's 

 interval, again from the 20th to the 27th of April. This 

 was a good season of the year for the early spring flowers, 

 and we discovered fifteen unrecorded species, besides four 

 ferns. 



As nothing whatever was known about the bryology 

 of the island, we devoted a good deal of time and attention 

 to the subject, and had the satisfaction of collecting sixty- 

 three Mosses and twelve Hepaticae. I spent much time 

 in a fruitless search for several species which are common 

 enough in similar localities both in Guernsey and Alderney, 

 but in Herm they appear to be absent. By way of com- 

 pensation, however, I was fortunate in finding three mosses 

 which have not yet been seen elsewhere in the Sarnian Islands, 



