154 A naturalist’s ramble in guernsey. 
indispensable, and even with a guide to the exact locality, Isoetes 
Hystrix might be passed over. The thinness of the soil causes 
the cliffs and higher sloping grounds to be burned up in 
summer. The botanist has to wait till October in order to find 
Ophioglossum lusitanicum and Tricho7iem.a Colmnnce (U.) and to 
see the cliffs on the whole to perfection. It is somewhat 
tantalizing to see Agave Ainericana, tall Draccenm, myrtles 
planted in the open ground, and fuchsias amongst heaps of 
stones, and nearly as secure from winter frosts as they are in 
our greenhouses in England. Skates are not likely to be of use 
once in five years in Guernsey. It is a rare thing to see snow 
lying on the ground, and in proof of the mildness of the winters 
it may be mentioned, that a friend of the author has for nearly 
twenty years without break never been without primroses in the 
house, picked from the open fields from December to June. 
During this last severe winter of 1880-1881 there has been 
only one heavy fall of snow. 
One of the most remarkable acclimatized vegetable pro- 
ductions of Guernsey is Gunnera scahra, belonging to the 
A^'aliacecB. It is mentioned by Darwin as occurring in Chili, 
and described by him as attaining there a great size, with 
stems as thick as a man’s leg. But some of the Guernsey 
specimens are quite as large. In its mode of growth and shape 
of the leaves it much resembles rhubarb, and indeed the people 
of the island very generally call it wild rhubarb.” The author 
saw it in great perfection in Mr. Smith’s nursery, and obtained 
through his kindness two fruiting spikes, which were exhibited 
at the meeting of the Society. These compound fruiting spikes 
were pyramidal in form, thirty inches in length and about six 
inches in diameter at their base ; the small orange-red fruits, 
with which they were covered, gave them almost the appearance 
of hugh green fir-cones studded over with little red corals. The 
leaves of the Gunne^'a being from six to eight feet in diameter. 
