A naturalist’s ramble in guernsey. 
155 
with leaf-btalks as thick as a man’s wrist, give the plant 
altogether a magnificent, almost tropical aspect. 
Of all branches of natural history, botany is the one to which 
most attention has been given. Professor Babington visited the 
island, and so thoroughly examined it, that there are few districts 
which can produce so complete and trustworthy a list as Guernsey. 
Mr. Wolsey and others have worthily followed up his researches, 
and their success may be judged of by the addition of Opliio- 
glossum Liisitanicum ; of Isoetes Hystrix, by Mr. Wolsey; and 
Gymnogramma Leptopkylla, by Mr. Derrick (1877). The island 
is one of those places which has been spoken of as a fern 
paradise, but rather on account of their extreme abundance than 
from the number of varieties. Walls and hedgerows are every- 
where crowded with Scolopendrium, Polypocliiim, Asp)lenmm 
Adiantum-nigrum, and Asplenium lanceolatmn. There is ample 
scope for the lover of lichens, mosses, liverworts, &c., while an 
enthusiastic searcher for sea-weeds will be delighted with the 
beautiful and rare specimens to be found in the picturesque rock- 
pools. 
Turning now to the animal productions of the sea, the 
author, who however only once indulged in the luxury of 
dredging, and for the rest had to content himself with shore- 
work, did not notice any great difference betw^een the Devon and 
Cornwall coasts and the sea around Guernsey. Foraminifera, 
Sponges, Sertularians, Campanularians, Medusae, Actinozoa, and 
similar organisms abounded, also — even in high rock pools on 
one part of the island — that lovely little coral, BalanojAiyllea 
regia. Of Echinodermata, the following were obtained and 
exhibited at the meeting : — Comatula rosacea ; Ophiura texturata 
and albida ; Ophiocoma neglecta, granulata, hellis, and rosula ; 
Uraster glacialis and rubens ; Cribella oculata ; Luidia fragilis- 
sima ; Asterina gibbosa ; Echinus sphara and miliaris ; Spatangus 
purpureus ; Echinocyamus pusillus (of Forbes’ British Starfishes). 
