Introduction 



The collecting and recording of Channel Islands Lepidoptera commenced within the islands ahout 

 200 years ago. In 1862 an attempted listing of the fauna was written and included within a major book on the 

 British Channel Islands. However, since then, a more comprehensive accounting, concerning the extent and 

 distribution of the known fauna, had yet to appear. Available information, of any description, is only 

 traceable by consulting a wide range of literature. These include information concerning species lists, 

 existing records of captures, notes on sightings, distributional information, biological data on the total fauna, 

 and even the build up of a bibliography to Channel Islands literature. Information was, and still is, 

 incorporated into private unpublished computer databases or card indexes. A section of the available 

 literature sources is rather obscure, and until the present work, there was still no publication available that 

 even supplied a fully comprehensive bibliography of these sources. Other derivations of information are not 

 openly accessible. 



Once examined, the literature shows that relatively few lepidopterists from mainland Britain have 

 seriously collected, or even studied Lepidoptera material from these islands. Of those who have contributed 

 information, the majority published short notes based on small amounts of material collected or observed. 

 Others again merely provided generalised observations. Most of the activities involving the collecting of 

 specimens and the compiling of information was and remains an undertaking carried out by enthusiastic 

 resident amateur entomologists within the islands. 



In Guernsey, the housing of a major historic insect collection is on the premises of the Guernsey 

 Museums & Galleries in St. Peter Port. For Jersey, the Societe Jersiaise in St. Helier contains the major 

 accumulated collections for the island. From both islands there are also privately owned collections. Some 

 Channel Islands material exists in various collections outside the islands, notably in museums, universities 

 and again in several private collections. Collectively, some of this available material is old and dates from 

 the 19th century, or early part of the 20th, but much is of relatively recent vintage. 



Since 1958, the author has collected specimens from the Channel Islands. This material will 

 eventually be incorporated into the insect collections at The Natural History Museum in London (British 

 Museum [Natural History]). There were only two other occasions in the past when Lepidoptera material had 

 been collected from the islands for this museum. Today the museum holds the largest reference collections 

 in the country of foreign and British Lepidoptera. Because of the scarcity of Channel Islands voucher 

 material in the London museum collections, records from the islands are hard to find. They hardly begin to 

 suggest the diversity of the fauna or their distributions. British mainland lepidopterists over the years, 

 excepting for several over the last 20 years or so, have seriously ignored faunal studies of the Channel 

 Islands. There has arisen an inevitable general outcome, the British and continental lepidopterists today have 

 only vague conceptions regarding the extent and composition of the Channel Islands fauna. The vast 

 majority correctly assume that the fauna of the islands will generally be similar to the fauna of the British 

 Isles, particularly with the fauna of the southern counties. Zoogeographically however, the fauna in the 

 islands is French and will inevitably contain some continental species that are not yet found in the fauna of 

 the British Isles. However, until now, the exact nature of the fauna and the extent of the admixture of 

 continental species and subspecies was not that well known. 



The more southerly latitude of the islands also has an effect on the fauna. Commonly the milder 

 climate and proximity of the islands to continental France, has induced seasonal differences in the breeding 

 cycles. Many species are on the wing earlier than in southern England and a number possibly produce more 

 broods per year. There is also the possibility that the Channel Islands fauna receives slightly larger numbers 

 of migrant species from the Continent than mainland England. This may help to account for the fact that 

 many resident species, or seasonally common species in the islands, are rarities in England. Conversely, 

 numbers of species regarded as residents in the southern counties, may apparently be infrequent, or even 

 unknown in the islands. 



It is the intention of this book to combine all relevant information from the known published 

 literature and from unpublished sources, on the fauna for these islands. This will supplement the information 

 on these insects so far put together by the recorders residing in the Channel Islands. Importantly though, it 

 will also provide a comprehensive accounting for the attention of British and continental students of 

 Lepidoptera. Undertaken in this book, is the attempt to interpret the fauna and to reveal the existing 

 distributional patterns within these islands. For this purpose, the inclusions of extractions from literature of 

 all individual specimen records, and previously unpublished records from many sources, have also been 

 added. Totals from the latter probably equal the number of published records. These records, reassembled 

 from their various sources, are systematically following a presently accepted classification. The 

 arrangements for individual island records of every species are in a strictly chronological sequence. This is 



3 



