Alfred Russel Wallace and Ornithoptera croesus.
Nov 8, 2019 8:32:38 GMT
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Post by nomad on Nov 8, 2019 8:32:38 GMT
Alfred Russel Wallace and Ornithoptera croesus.
Many here would have read Alfred Russel Wallace's (1823 –1913) great account of his journeys in the Far East, in the Malay Archipelago, which was first published in 1869, and are aware of his exciting account in that book of the discovery of a new species of Birdwing butterfly Ornithoptera croesus on the Island of Bacan in the Moluccas. This account has been often quoted and immortalized by many authors. It was even wrongly applied to his discovery by Wallace of the Bird-of-paradise, Wallace's Standardwing-Semioptera wallacii on Bacan by none other than Sir David Attenborough in a BBC Television programme.
Wallace wrote in the Malay Archipelago, pages 257-258 of O. croesus " " On taking out of my net and opening those glorious wings my heart began to beat violently, the blood rushed to my head, and I felt much more like fainting than I had done when in apprehension of immediate death. I had a headache the rest of the day, so great was the excitement produced by what appear to most people a very inadequate cause".
Wallace had in fact written a similar account of the discovery of the new Birdwing on Batchian (now usually spelt Bacan) a decade before, not long after he caught a specimen visiting a yellow flowered Mussaenda shrub in early January 1859. In a letter dated 28 January 1859, written to Samuel Stevens (1817– 1899) his natural history agent, Wallace wrote in this extract "I had determined to leave here about this time, but two circumstances decided to prolong my stay-first, I succeeded at last in taking the magnificent new Ornithoptera and, secondly I obtained positive information here of a second species of Paradisea, apparently more beautiful and curious than the one I obtained. You perhaps imagine my excitement when, after seeing it only two or three times in three months, I at length took a male Ornithoptera. When I took it out of my net, and opened its gorgeous wings, I was near fainting with delight and excitement than I have ever been in my life ; my heat beat violently, and the blood rushed to my head, leaving a headache for the rest of the day. The insect surpassed my expectations, being allied to Priamus, perfectly new, distinct, and one of the most gorgeous and unique colour ; it is a fiery golden orange, changing when viewed obliquely, to opaline-yellow and green. It is, I think, the finest of the Ornithoptera, and consequently the finest butterfly in the world. Besides the colour it differs much in the markings from all the Priamus group. Soon after I took it I sent one of my men to search for it daily, giving him a premium on every specimen, good or bad, he takes, he consequently works hard from morn to dewy eve, and occasionally brings one ; unfortunately several of them are in bad condition. I also occasionally take the lovely Papilio Telemachus, n.s. I have sent a small box containing four males, one female, and one young bird of the new Batchian Paradisea, besides an ink red-ticketed private specimen ; six males and five females of the new Ornithoptera, and seven Papilio Telemachus. Tell Mr Gray and Mr Gould that the Paradisea had better not be described yet, as I am making great exertions to get the second species. For the Ornithoptera I propose Croesus as a good name. "
Stevens read the whole of Wallace's letter to the members of the Entomological Society at a meeting held on 6 June 1859 and extracts (some of which are above) were published in the Transactions of the Entomological Society of London 1859, 5:70, and The Zoologist : a monthly journal of natural history, 1859. 17: 6621. Surprisingly John Obadiah Westwood (1805 –1893), who had visited the Leyden Museum, and had seen the holotype of Ornithoptera tithonus De Hann 1840, which then, was the only one known to science of that species, expressed his opinion at the Society meeting that the male of the Ornithoptera Wallace described in his letter belonged to that species and his females were those of Ornithoptera victoriae described by G. R. Gray and figured in the Proceedings of the Linnean Society, from a specimen take by Mr M'Gillivary on Guadalcanal . It was then suggested by a member that Wallace, before visiting the Far East, had carefully investigated all the available Natural History literature and was aware of De Hann's figure of O.tithonus on the first plate of the Insects of the Dutch Settlements.
At an Entomological Society meeting in London on the 4 July 1859, it was recorded that "Stevens exhibited both sexes the new Ornithoptera croesus, and both sexes of the beautiful Papilio allied to P. ulysses, for which Wallace proposed the specific name of *telemachus which had arrived since the last meeting". Stevens told the members at the meeting, "although Wallace's new birdwing was allied to O, tithonus it was by no means identical with that insect, as had been conjectured by Westwood, from the description given in Mr Wallace's letter." * Papilio ulysses telemachus. The specific name telemachus had been used previously for a subspecies of Papilio ulysses on Woodlark Island by Montrouzier, 1856, and the Bachan butterfly found by Wallace is now known as P. ulysses telegonus C. & R. Felder, 1860. See this link for Wallace's specimens of Papilio ulysses oumnh.ox.ac.uk/alfred-russel-wallace
Stevens who was on very friendly terms Wallace, importance to the British naturalist travelling in the Far East should never be underestimated. Not only did Stevens very efficiently dispose of all of Wallace's specimens that included many duplicates that he did not want for his private collection, he exhibited many of them at the meetings of the Entomological Society, where he mixed with many the elite of the scientific establishment in Britain. He sent Wallace all his equipment, clothes, boots and many other much needed things, and carried out small, but important tasks for his friend, such as taking his favourite pair of broken spectacles to the makers, and returning them to him in his next parcel. Stevens was an acknowledged expert on his native Coleoptera and Lepidoptera, being an excellent field worker, and thus had much in common with Wallace. Stevens was often the first person to read to Wallace and Bates accounts from the Amazon, and later Wallace reports from the Far East. He other than them, was the first to look on their natural history treasures, and give some of them to the taxonomists who sought to describe them. He knew that both Bates and was Wallace were doing very important scientific work, and with their wish, published many extracts of their travels in the Annals and Magazine of Natural History and later in the Zoologist, so many readers were able to follow the excitement and discovery of their journeys, not too long after they happened.
Specimens of Ornithoptera croesus collected by Wallace on Bacan, 1859. Oxford University Museum.
Many here would have read Alfred Russel Wallace's (1823 –1913) great account of his journeys in the Far East, in the Malay Archipelago, which was first published in 1869, and are aware of his exciting account in that book of the discovery of a new species of Birdwing butterfly Ornithoptera croesus on the Island of Bacan in the Moluccas. This account has been often quoted and immortalized by many authors. It was even wrongly applied to his discovery by Wallace of the Bird-of-paradise, Wallace's Standardwing-Semioptera wallacii on Bacan by none other than Sir David Attenborough in a BBC Television programme.
Wallace wrote in the Malay Archipelago, pages 257-258 of O. croesus " " On taking out of my net and opening those glorious wings my heart began to beat violently, the blood rushed to my head, and I felt much more like fainting than I had done when in apprehension of immediate death. I had a headache the rest of the day, so great was the excitement produced by what appear to most people a very inadequate cause".
Wallace had in fact written a similar account of the discovery of the new Birdwing on Batchian (now usually spelt Bacan) a decade before, not long after he caught a specimen visiting a yellow flowered Mussaenda shrub in early January 1859. In a letter dated 28 January 1859, written to Samuel Stevens (1817– 1899) his natural history agent, Wallace wrote in this extract "I had determined to leave here about this time, but two circumstances decided to prolong my stay-first, I succeeded at last in taking the magnificent new Ornithoptera and, secondly I obtained positive information here of a second species of Paradisea, apparently more beautiful and curious than the one I obtained. You perhaps imagine my excitement when, after seeing it only two or three times in three months, I at length took a male Ornithoptera. When I took it out of my net, and opened its gorgeous wings, I was near fainting with delight and excitement than I have ever been in my life ; my heat beat violently, and the blood rushed to my head, leaving a headache for the rest of the day. The insect surpassed my expectations, being allied to Priamus, perfectly new, distinct, and one of the most gorgeous and unique colour ; it is a fiery golden orange, changing when viewed obliquely, to opaline-yellow and green. It is, I think, the finest of the Ornithoptera, and consequently the finest butterfly in the world. Besides the colour it differs much in the markings from all the Priamus group. Soon after I took it I sent one of my men to search for it daily, giving him a premium on every specimen, good or bad, he takes, he consequently works hard from morn to dewy eve, and occasionally brings one ; unfortunately several of them are in bad condition. I also occasionally take the lovely Papilio Telemachus, n.s. I have sent a small box containing four males, one female, and one young bird of the new Batchian Paradisea, besides an ink red-ticketed private specimen ; six males and five females of the new Ornithoptera, and seven Papilio Telemachus. Tell Mr Gray and Mr Gould that the Paradisea had better not be described yet, as I am making great exertions to get the second species. For the Ornithoptera I propose Croesus as a good name. "
Stevens read the whole of Wallace's letter to the members of the Entomological Society at a meeting held on 6 June 1859 and extracts (some of which are above) were published in the Transactions of the Entomological Society of London 1859, 5:70, and The Zoologist : a monthly journal of natural history, 1859. 17: 6621. Surprisingly John Obadiah Westwood (1805 –1893), who had visited the Leyden Museum, and had seen the holotype of Ornithoptera tithonus De Hann 1840, which then, was the only one known to science of that species, expressed his opinion at the Society meeting that the male of the Ornithoptera Wallace described in his letter belonged to that species and his females were those of Ornithoptera victoriae described by G. R. Gray and figured in the Proceedings of the Linnean Society, from a specimen take by Mr M'Gillivary on Guadalcanal . It was then suggested by a member that Wallace, before visiting the Far East, had carefully investigated all the available Natural History literature and was aware of De Hann's figure of O.tithonus on the first plate of the Insects of the Dutch Settlements.
At an Entomological Society meeting in London on the 4 July 1859, it was recorded that "Stevens exhibited both sexes the new Ornithoptera croesus, and both sexes of the beautiful Papilio allied to P. ulysses, for which Wallace proposed the specific name of *telemachus which had arrived since the last meeting". Stevens told the members at the meeting, "although Wallace's new birdwing was allied to O, tithonus it was by no means identical with that insect, as had been conjectured by Westwood, from the description given in Mr Wallace's letter." * Papilio ulysses telemachus. The specific name telemachus had been used previously for a subspecies of Papilio ulysses on Woodlark Island by Montrouzier, 1856, and the Bachan butterfly found by Wallace is now known as P. ulysses telegonus C. & R. Felder, 1860. See this link for Wallace's specimens of Papilio ulysses oumnh.ox.ac.uk/alfred-russel-wallace
Stevens who was on very friendly terms Wallace, importance to the British naturalist travelling in the Far East should never be underestimated. Not only did Stevens very efficiently dispose of all of Wallace's specimens that included many duplicates that he did not want for his private collection, he exhibited many of them at the meetings of the Entomological Society, where he mixed with many the elite of the scientific establishment in Britain. He sent Wallace all his equipment, clothes, boots and many other much needed things, and carried out small, but important tasks for his friend, such as taking his favourite pair of broken spectacles to the makers, and returning them to him in his next parcel. Stevens was an acknowledged expert on his native Coleoptera and Lepidoptera, being an excellent field worker, and thus had much in common with Wallace. Stevens was often the first person to read to Wallace and Bates accounts from the Amazon, and later Wallace reports from the Far East. He other than them, was the first to look on their natural history treasures, and give some of them to the taxonomists who sought to describe them. He knew that both Bates and was Wallace were doing very important scientific work, and with their wish, published many extracts of their travels in the Annals and Magazine of Natural History and later in the Zoologist, so many readers were able to follow the excitement and discovery of their journeys, not too long after they happened.
Specimens of Ornithoptera croesus collected by Wallace on Bacan, 1859. Oxford University Museum.
