Essex (VC 19). The boundary between the two is defined as follows:- the road
(A121 and All now renumbered B1393) from the Hertfordshire boundary at
Waltham Abbey to Epping; road (A122) from North Weald Bassett, High
Ongar and Writtle to the high street and R. Chelmer at Chelmsford; R.
Chelmer from Chelmsford down to the junction with the R. Blackwater above
Maldon, and thence the R. Blackwater through Maldon to the sea (Dandy,
1969).
The boundary of Essex has changed less than that of most counties, but three
districts are included in VCs 18 and 19, and therefore in the recording area,
which are no longer part of the administrative county.
(1). That part of Greater London which lies east of the R. Lea.
(2). The parishes of Heydon and Great and Little Chishill which were ceded to
Cambridgeshire in 1895.
(3). The parishes of Haverhill and Kedington which were ceded to Suffolk.
The recording area adopted here is identical with that shown on Map 1 (The
Recording Area) in Jermyn (1974). Firmin et al. (1975) included (1) above, but
not (2) and (3).
There are three localities which straddle the county boundary and records from
them are included even though the insect may have been taken in the other
county. They are as follows:-
(1). Hackney Marshes, which are partly in Middlesex, though the section east
of the R. Lea is in Essex. The popular collecting area in the nineteenth century
was along the river and authors seldom say on which bank their captures were
made; in any case the insects would almost certainly occur on both banks.
Anderson (1882), lamenting the shrinkage of this good locality, complains of
the new building on the Essex as well as the Middlesex side of the river.
Records for Hackney, as opposed to Hackney Marshes have not been ac-
cepted.
(2). Sawbridgeworth Marsh Nature Reserve, which is jointly administered by
the Essex Naturalists' Trust and the Hertfordshire and Middlesex Trust. Only
about one quarter of the reserve at the northern end is in Essex.
(3) Pelham Nature Reserve, a small portion of which is in Hertfordshire. It so
happens that all the records made hitherto are from the Essex side of the
boundary.
The presentation of the records
Records from the two vice-counties have been kept separate because the
recording of the microlepidoptera is nationally so far behind that of the
macrolepidoptera that the vice-county is used, for example, in The Moths and
Butterflies of Great Britain and Ireland. A record made on the dividing line has
been assigned to the southern vice-county unless it is known definitely that it
was made in VC 19.
Within the vice-county, records are presented in the same manner as in
Jermyn (1974). They are listed from south to north and from west to east, the
two figure grid reference being prefixed to each entry or group of entries. This
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