Subject: Old records

From: Patrick Roper <[email-masked]>
Date: Sat, 27 Jan 1996 15:13:45 +0000

Did past collectors leave good records?

In the debate about collecting it is often suggested that our knowledge of
butterfly distribution is helped by old collections.

I have recently received a copy of a new book on The Butterflies of
Wiltshire by Michael Fuller (Pisces Publications, Newbury, Berkshire, 1995)
which gives a more realistic perspective on this supposed justification for
collecting in the UK.

Speaking of records from the county from 1947 to 1986, for example, Fuller
says "location details were rarely included ....  In the 1930s and 1940s,
when most species were much more abundant and widespread than they are now
and the imminent destruction of the countryside could not have been
foreseen, the need for such detail was not recognised.  In an age when
intensive collecting was still in vogue and rivalry and competition to have
a superior collection to one's fellow lepidopterists was a factor, the need
for a degree of secrecy was also a consideration for the rarer species."

Fuller also searched entomological magazines from 1900 onwards but, despite
its richness, found few Wiltshire butterfly records.  He says "the county's
butterfly records have been very under-published in spite of frequent visits
>from  collectors in the past for the rare variations of blues".

In regard to collections, one of the best from Wiltshire was that of Roy
Pitman put together between the 1920s and the 1980s.  Fuller says: "It is
believed that Roy's extensive collection of butterflies and moths was
largely unlabelled  .... the collection was disposed of in various lots and
no attempt has been made to trace any part of it".  As long ago as 1854 the
Rev. William Collings Lukis called for specimens of local lepidoptera to be
donated to the Wiltshire Archaeological and Natural History Society with
special emphasis on careful labelling and accurate data.  Fuller comments:
"Whether members resonded to this request is not known, but, if any
specimens or records were donated to the Society, they no longer exist.  I
have inspected the collections in the Museum and found no material from this
period".

While there have, of course, been many collectors who were good scientists
and good conservationists, the inference from the above is that the majority
were simply cabinet-fillers with little desire to contribute to our stock of
knowledge or to conservation.

Patrick Roper
--
South View, Churchland Lane, Sedlescombe, East Sussex TN33 0PE, UK
Telephone: +44 (0) 1424 870208; Fax: +44 (0) 1424 870208
Email: [email-masked]