Flora of Guernsey and the Lesser Channel Islands; Namely Alderney, Sark, Herm, Jethou, and the Adjacent Islets. with Five Maps

This historic book may have numerous typos and missing text. Purchasers can download a free scanned copy of the original book (without typos) from the publisher. Not indexed. Not illustrated. 1901. Excerpt: ... these islands from the mainland of the continent did not take place simultaneously over the entire area; it was not the result of a rapid or even a uniformly slow universal subsidence. On the contrary, long periods of time must have elapsed, we are told, between the formation of the different groups of islands. And there seems to be strong evidence to prove that Guernsey, together with Henri and Jethou, and perhaps Sark also, was cut off from the continent at an epoch immensely anterior to the detachment of the Jersey and Alderney groups; in other terms, that Guernsey was an island for ages, while the others were still united to, and formed part of, the French mainland. This is a point of some importance, which it is well to bear in mind in studying and comparing the fauna and flora of the different islands inter se, and in noting the characteristics of each in relation to the opposite French and English coasts. Strictly speaking, the indigenous animals and plants of these islands cannot be regarded as British in the sense in which the term is usually applied to the fauna and flora of Britain proper. If a line be drawn down the English Channel midway between the shores of England and France, the Channel Islands will be found to lie well within the French side of the line. Geographically, therefore, they belong to France beyond question, although politically they appertain to England, and, it is to be hoped, will always continue to do so. But, at the same time, their relationship zoologically and botanically to the continental mainland is not nearly so intimate as might be inferred from their geographical position; and, since the French naturalists regard them as foreign territory, and, indeed, practically ignore their existence altogether, it is only just...