dated specimens located in the Guernsey collections, or else they were extracted from inaccurate record files. 

 Either way, they do not constitute the first Bailiwick records. A first record in the islands is the first time the 

 species was noted, either by comment in literature, as in the Ansted & Latham lists, or from the date of the 

 first specimen being seen or captured, in either an immature stage or from an imago and duly recorded. It 

 may take some years before the identity of the species becomes known, but the dating for the first record is 

 still from the time of seeing or capture, it is not dated from the time it was finally identified. It is the date of 

 the first recorded sighting that matters, not the date of awareness of its identity. Most of the species dated as 

 first recorded in 1889 in the Austin checklist, actually dated much earlier. The date 1889 referred to Luffs 

 paper of 1 890, where Luff was either referring directly back to Ansted & Latham of 1 862, or was providing 

 a date in the 1870's from material collected by Luff himself or by others. Other similar inaccuracies were 

 noted, some of which may have been plainly typing errors. The checklist was also incomplete for its time, 

 for a number of species were missed out. These were species that had been mentioned in various Annual 

 Reports and were not picked up for the checklist. Conversely, a large number of species provided in this 

 checklist have apparently never been mentioned in published articles by Bailiwick recorders and were not 

 picked up in current or subsequent Annual Entomological Reports of the Societe. Later, some might have 

 been recognised as misidentifications and their identities duly corrected and noted on the specimens, 

 however, no such information has so far been published on these species. Because these species had been 

 listed in this checklist, also, that sometimes, the species had already been recorded in the Jersey Bailiwick, 

 the records they provide have here been treated as bona fide and added to the records section. Similar 

 unpublished lists were provided for some successive years by the Austins. 



Further contributions to the Guernsey Bailiwick by visiting lepidopterists 



In 1990 a short visit to the Bailiwick was again made by Rev. D.J.L. Agassiz, accompanied by 

 another very experienced fieldworker, J.R. Langmaid, both are also experienced researchers in 

 microlepidoptera. Following the astonishing results that Agassiz had in 1982, about the same number of 

 additional microlepidoptera were added in 1990 based upon their observations and from identifications they 

 made of unsorted accessions from collections based in Guernsey. These results give a further indication that 

 much work is still needed on the island's smaller moths. By the end of 1990, the total number of moths and 

 butterflies recorded in the islands amounted to 1088 species and subspecies, out of which no less than 604 

 were butterflies and macromoths. The resulting 484 species comprising all of the families of 

 microlepidoptera still showed a disproportionate comparison to the true British fauna, where at present, this 

 group far exceeds the macrolepidoptera. If it is feasible to assume that the Channel Islands fauna should also 

 reflect these comparative figures of micro- and macrolepidoptera. It then strongly suggested that much work 

 still needed to be undertaken on the former group. Numbers of species in both groups should still climb in 

 future years, but it requires the sort of expertise suggested above, to be put into regular practice, plus, the 

 possibility to dissect and accurately identify microlepidoptera, before comparative figures to the British 

 fauna can be reached. Though it can never be assumed that the Channel Islands fauna will compare in size to 

 the main British fauna, the island's proximity to mainland Europe should always ensure a sizeable influence 

 from the continent that will include a faunal contribution essentially similar to that of Britain. 



Further listings and contributions through the 1990 's 



Tie Bailiwick's records were continued through 1991 and 1992 by R.A. Austin in Guernsey aided 

 by a sizeable number of contributing observers headed by T.N.D. Peet operating his light-trap in the parish 

 of Forest and P.D.M. Costen in the parish of St. Peter in the Wood (St. Pierre du Bois); with W.J. Le 

 Quesne in Jersey receiving records from the recorders R. & M.L. Long, R.V.M. Burrow and others, also 

 from the records built up at the light-traps maintained by the Rothamsted Insect Survey located in Trinity at 

 the Howard Davis Farm. From 1993 onwards, the entomological annual reports for Jersey were compiled by 

 R. & M.L. Long. 



In 1992 M. Baker completed an unpublished M.Sc. Thesis at University College London, dealing 

 with butterflies in Jersey. In 1993 it was announced that Hannah Clarke had since 1991 been working on 

 population densities of butterflies in Jersey. Sites were selected by J. Banks and M.L. Long for the 

 continuation of these studies. In the 1993 report, a few selected examples of the population figures from 

 these transect sites were reported. The studies were planned to continue at least throughout the 1990's. One 

 transect site known as Saint Catherine's Woods, recently came under the management of the Jersey Tree 

 Advisory Council. Work was commenced on improving the site as a habitat for wildlife in general. A further 

 initiative was launched in 1994, a Garden Butterfly Survey, which, as with the transect studies, will take 

 several years of favourable seasons before a substantial accumulation of data can be obtained. 



Contributions from English entomologists were much in evidence in 1993. In the microlepidoptera, 

 an excellent paper by M.W. Harper (1993: 11-13 Fig. 1) dealt with the first Channel Islands records of the 

 Oecophorid Pleurota aristella collected in Jersey. It was an exemplary case in field work, rarely 



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