for the dual purposes of displaying their progressive recording and to simplify an immediate comparison on 

 an annual basis of their distributions within the islands. 



The taxonomy accounts for all of the scientific names up to generic level used in the Channel 

 Islands literature. This is partly to show which individual taxon is now designated as the nominal name and 

 those names that are now in synonymy. Shown also are the many misspellings that have occurred in the 

 literature and have caused some confusion in the past. As far as possible the updated taxonomy coincides, 

 for convenience sake only, with the current accepted checklists for the British Isles. The higher classification 

 concerning subfamily to family level is occasionally inconsistent in current literature. Apart from a few 

 subtle changes, the classification expressed here follows the current British checklist of J.D. Bradley, 

 published in 2000. 



In addition, an examination of the Lepidoptera literature from theChannel Islands offers an insight 

 into the history of collecting in these islands and provides other useful background information. Itemised are 

 the first species records for the islands listed in the literature and supplemented by the author's collection. 

 This section also provides a correlation to catalogue species number listings for the British Isles, France and 

 Europe. Provided is an examination of the history and usage of vernacular names. A separate table includes a 

 compilation of some recorded species from the French owned Chausey Islands, which provides a 

 comparison to the fauna of the British Channel Islands. 



4 



