36 ENTOMOLOGIST'SRECORD,VOL. 118 25.L2006 Is the moral ofthis Hazardthat you should not believe your own eyes? Not at all! But if your eyes see unusual things - and exceptionally even what you see is the absenceofthings - thereisprobably someinterestingunderlyingcause. Whoknows ... while I am wri—ting this, Acraea kraka kibi might just be having a field day on the Atewa Range! Torben B. Larsen, UNDP Vietnam, c/o Palais des Nations, 1211 Geneva 10, Switzerland(E-mail: [email protected]). HistoryofDevonLepidopterarecording There were several lists of Lepidoptera local to various towns in Devon written in the early 1800s, the most notable of these being A List ofsome Insectsfound in Dartmoor, and its Neighbourhood by R.& C. Tucker, which is associated with Dartmoor, Descriptive Poems by N. T. Carrington (1826). This listing is embedded into the Preface, which is 105 pages long. Pages Ixxxiv to xciii list the Lepidoptera and pages xciv to cv list the Coleoptera; a list ofplants is to be found at the end of this edition. A further list produced by W. Turton & J. C. Kingston (1828 or 1830), Lepidoptera ofTeignmouth, Dawlish andTorquay is to be found in N. T. Carrington , et. al.A Torquay Guide, Part2. As thishas nopagination, I assumethis isembedded in the Preface ofthis book, similar to the 1826 book on Dartmoor. I was unable to find this, but found W. Turton & J. C. Kingston (1828 or 1830), TheNaturalHistory ofthe District ofTeignmouth, Dawlish and Torquay, ofthe Different Species of Animals, Vegetables and Minerals which has a section on Insects including , Lepidoptera thisalsohasnopagination. ; J. C. Dale published (1831), in Magazine ofNatural History 4: 265-267, Insects captured by J.C. Dale in Hampshire, Dorsetshire, Devonshire, Cornwall and Somerset and Rev. E. Horton (1857) published a list for Martinhoe, near Lynton (Captures in Devonshire) which is to be found in the Entomologist’s Weekly Intelligencer2: 149.A ListofInsects taken atBarnstapleby G. F. Mathew (1858), is inthe samepublication, 5: 68-70; 98-100and 179-181. J. J. Reading produced his list Catalogue ofLepidoptera ofDevon and Cornwall, in PlymouthInst. Trans, pages 41 to 64, part I, (1861-1862); pages 89 to 122, part II (1862-1863) and pages 51 to 155, part III (1864-1865). This featured many species ofLepidoptera, butterflies and moths andreferredtotheearly collectors ofthattime; strangelyenough, itdidnotlistthe geometridmoths. A Natural History ofTeignmouth written by W. R. H. Jordan (1874. Rep. Trans. DevonAssoc. Advmt. Sci. 6: 707 to 715, and G.C. Bignell publishedThe Geometrida of Plymouth and its vicinity, published in the Plymouth Inst. Trans. (1877 to 1878) pages424to432. Edward Parfitt (1820-1893) who contributed many papers for Rep. Trans. Devon Assoc. Advmt. Sci., produced Fauna ofDevon, which was published in a few volumes ofthat publication andincluded aLepidoptera section in volume 10 (1878), pages 411 to 588. This includes references from the collectors ofhis day and listed NOTES 37 the butterflies, microlepidoptera and macrolepidoptera known in Devon. G. C. Bignell (1879-1880) produced a Catalogue ofLepidoptera ofthe Plymouth District ; this is a manuscript copy (Parfitt, 1878) and was not, as I stated in Moths ofDevon (2001), publishedinPlymouthInst. Trans. Thiscopy hasnotbeenfound. G. C. Bignell published The Pyralidina ofPlymouth andits vicinity (1879), in the PlymouthInst. Trans, pages 301 to 304, andE. F. Studdpublishedseveral sectionsof a list forOxton, ExeterEntomologist. (1893 - 1900), 26: 15 & 128; 27: 55 - 57; 28: 133-134; 29 131-134; 30 145-146; 31 71; 32 95 and 33 130. As part of these : : : : : articles, hedescribeshisilluminatedmothtraps. One of our most famous collectors, C. G. Barrett (1836-1904), commenced his serious study of Lepidoptera when he was around 20 years old and we find references to his work in the newly formed Entomologist’s Weekly Intelligencer (1856) and the Zoologist. His chiefwork The Lepidoptera ofthe British Islands was commenced in 1892, and the ninth volume produced in 1905; he was also responsible for the Lepidoptera section in the Victoria County History: Devon (1906), pages208 to230, whichlists alltheknown speciesofLepidopterain Devon. Dr. G. B. Longstaff published his Lepidoptera Observed in the Parish of Mortehoe, North Devon (second edition, (in 1903), 29 pages and third edition (in 1907), 68 pages; thefirsteditionwasprobablyproducedinthe late 1890s. H. Lupton produced an account ofthe Flora and Fauna ofthe Torquay District in the Torquay Natural History Society (TNHS), with the Lepidoptera section on pages 127 to 134; he was President of the TNHS from 1914 to 1916. J. Walker and H. Lupton produced Notes on Local Lepidoptera (1915), a four page document published separately. J. Walker published Notes on the Local Lepidoptera around the same time (no date given, but probably around 1930) in the TNHS pages 265 to 275. It was suggestedby Mr. Priestly (an activeentomologist around 1900) thatthey should begin a collection of Devon butterflies and moths for the Museum (Torquay); J. Walker reviewed the macrolepidoptera of the Torquay District (1930) and booklets onTorquayLepidopterawere producedby H. Lupton andJ. Walkerand sentto other museums and entomological Societies, probably referring to the two documents listed above. F. R. Elliston-Wright produced his Braunton. Afew Nature Notes (1926). This included descriptive notes up to page 69 then lists ofplants, Lepidoptera (pages 79 to 90) and alistofbirds up to page 106. A map ofthe Braunton areais on the inside back cover. The whole of this book is interleaved with blank pages, presumably to make notes. A further edition was produced in 1932 and is the one that most people have referred to. This has descriptive notes up to page 110 and lists of plants, Lepidoptera (pages 131 to 141) and birds up to page 156, with a map of the Braunton area on the first ofseveral blankpages at the back ofthe book; the species lists werepresumablybasedmainly onhisownobservations. Dr. R. V. Solly produced The Butterflies and Moths ofthe Neighbourhood of Exeter (1932), which included Stoke Woods, Haldon, Dawlish Warren, Stover, Woodbury and Ladram Bay. This was published in The Proceedings ofthe College Field Club & Natural History Society, Exeter. IFF, 1946, edited by M. G. Palmer, 38 ENTOMOLOGIST'SRECORD,VOL. 118 25.i.2006 had a Lepidoptera section on pages 67 to 112 and includes references from the Entomologists ofthe area, but not from E. Parfitt’s work (1878). This was compiled from a card index made by R. J. Burton, President of the South London Natural History Society (1943 to 1944), when he was resident in Ilfracombe. The book encompassed a circular area of roughly a ten mile radius centred upon Ilfracombe, includedLundy Island, andlistedmany ofthe BrauntonrecordsofEllistonWright. J. Heath, whilst stationed at Plymouth during the Second World War, compiled a list ofmoths and butterflies ofDevon (1944 to 1948). There is one copy of a hand written listing entitled The Lepidoptera ofthe County ofDevon (1946). From this there were produced two typed copies of the main list which mainly contained records from previous publications. The list included butterflies, macro and micro Lepidoptera and comprised 158 pages including an index. Subsidiary lists include Part 1 - Rhopalocera which has 10 pages, including an index and a Provisional List ofthe Lepidoptera ofDevon by J. Heath and F. W. Jeffery and includes all the species in the main list within its 26 pages. The butterfly section was compiled by J. Heath and F. W. Jeffery. Butterfly Conservation, Devon Branch, have an annotated copy of this list which gives fairly extensive localities and information about the scarce migrants. Engineer, Captain S. T. Stidston, who lived at Ashburton, was the first Secretary and Treasurer of the newly formed Entomological Section of the Devonshire Association which had its Inaugural Meeting on Saturday, 14 August 1948; the idea ofputting together an Insect Fauna ofDevonshire along the lines ofthe Flora ofDevon (1939) was proposed in October ofthe same year. S. T. Stidston wroteA Listofthe Lepidoptera ofDevon, Part 1 andIntroduction which was published in , Rep. Trans. Devon Assoc. Advmt. Sci. (1952). This work acknowledged assistance from “Mr. Frank Lees, of Uplyme and Maidencombe and Dr. H. Henstock, formerly ofExmouth and Woodbury, for their long, detailed lists ofspecies taken in their respective areas. Also to Mr. John Heathfor the use ofhis unpublished list,”. A listing of all of the recorders for this work can be found under the References and Sources section. The publication covered all the butterflies and macrolepidoptera seen in the county up to 1952 with references to the old works and entomologists. A list of Additions and Corrections for this was published in Rep. Trans. Devon Assoc. Advmt. Sci. (6th edition of the Entomology Section, 1953). From the time the Entomology Section of the Devon Association for the Advancement of Science (DA) had been formed (1948) and reports of the more interesting species ofLepidoptera seen the previous year were published most years in the Report of the Transactions. McCormick, R. F., (2001) gives a listing of the recorders on pages 293-295, andthese were copied fromthe DArecordbooks which werekeptup-to-datebythe incumbentrecorders. E. C. Pelham-Clinton, a well known entomologist of his time, moved to Axminster in July 1981 and continued recording everything he saw in the insect world, along with other things in nature. He was responsible for putting the records of the microlepidoptera from two thirds of the county onto record cards and NOTES 39 producing numerous macrolepidoptera records that were put into the DA record books, which are retained by the Recorders in separate books. Unfortunately, he had only spent sevenyearsinDevon whenhediedinDecember 1988. Hebequeathedhis diaries, with his field notes and written records, to the National Museums of Scotland (Edinburgh). Bristow, C. R., Mitchell, S. H., and Bolton, D. E. published Devon Butterflies in 1993. This book contains 151 pages and has dot maps and descriptive text ofall the species of butterfly recorded in Devon along with colour pictures of 44 species, a couple ofcolourpictures oflocalities, an index and descriptive text. Local lists were comingofage. I wrote the Larger Lepidoptera ofDawlish Warren, which was published in several supplements in volumes 107 and 108 ofEnt. Record. (1995 and 1996). This contained records I had made personally, species for which there were unconfirmed recordsthatmightbecorrectandasectionwithrecords thatwerehighlyimprobable; the observations in theselasttwo sections were taken frommaterial submittedby the VisitorCentreatDawlishWarren. I also produced, in 1997, for the Devon Moth Group, The Definitive Listing of Species Observed In Devon: Macrolepidoptera, Pyralidae and Plumes’, this had 37 pages and listed all the species ofthe groups in question with very briefindications ofdistribution within the county, I was ably assisted with this work and the next by BobHeckford. I then wrote Moths of Devon (McCormick, 2001), which included all of the records that had been made so far, with accounts of the previous publications authors’ comments, along with sections on Conservation, History of recording, Geology and Migration, along with other topics. This work had 328 pages which included English and Latin indexes, 24 pictures of localities and 24 pictures of moths. No dot maps were included for the species, but one map showed dots ofall the sitesthathadbeenvisitedthus faralong withacomprehensivegazetteer. Devon Moth Group was formed in 1996 and the firstAnnual Report (Newsletter 1997), listed all the species that had been seen the previous year. AnAnnualReport has been produced each year with the previous year’s sightings ofall species being shown with briefdetails ofthe more importantexamples. The 9thedition ofthis was publishedinJanuary 2005. Records for Devon, since 1994 when I started recording in the county seriously, have been stored on a database held on my own computer at my home. Input of records has been around 10,000 to 14,000 a year. I have records ofmy own that go backto 1960-1990, when Ivisitedthecounty forspecies Ineeded. Lists were always made whereverI wen—t andthese were already on the database whenIcame tolive in the county in 1993. Roy McCormick, 36 Paradise Road, Teignmouth, Devon, TQ14 8NR.