SPECIMENS SENT BY JACQUES DAUDIN FROM UNION IS.

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As well as the few specimen taken by myself by light trap during my brief stay on Union Is. in 1994, Jacques Daudin - a long-term resident of Union Is. - has also been sending me specimens from Union Is. over the course of the past few years. Samples have been received dated August 1995; Oct. 1995; March 1997; Nov. 1997; July 1997 and Sept. 1998.

Regrettably many of these samples were collected by means of Malaise trap and arrived as bulk samples, much of which was damaged beyond recognition. It has been possible to identify large parts of these samples, however - sometimes by resorting to dissection for confirmation of identity, where the abdomen was still present - and many new records have been made from this material. It is clear from this material, however, that many small species of Pyralids and Sterrhine Geometrids (both groups prone to damage by bulk-trapping techniques) are present on these islands which remain unrecorded at present due to lack of well preserved material for identification. The Exeter University Expedition material is also, similarly, in a very poor state of preservation as it was collected by automated trap - not a suitable method for collecting in the tropics where high temepratures result in a lot of activity within the trap and consequent rubbing and loss of wing scales.

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