J.C. Dale - I would go through fire and water for insects.
May 29, 2015 11:30:44 GMT
deliasfanatic, mygos, and 5 more like this
Post by nomad on May 29, 2015 11:30:44 GMT
In 1864, James Charles Dale sent a letter to the Reverend T. Blackmore in which he wrote " I would go through fire and water for insects" .
I have written briefly about the life of the great British 19th century collector J.C. Dale before and shown some of his specimens from his incomparable collection of British insects. This article looks at the life of J.C. Dale in further detail, with a selection of his and his son Charles, cherished historic specimens. I have found much information in an unpublished biography of J.C. Dale written in 1980 by S.C.S. Brown. I have recently accessed the J.C. Dale diaries and have made further studies of his lepidoptera collection at Oxford . The Dale collection contains a number of the oldest set specimens in the world, captured at the very dawn of insect collecting. Dale's specimens have shown that if properly cared for, an insect collection can be a valuable study resource for future entomologists.
James Charles Dale (1792-1872) was one of the fathers of British entomology. S.C.S. Brown wrote that " J.C. Dale was one of the first to place entomology on a scientific basis, by accurate determinations and detailed descriptions of material ". Literature on insects in the early part of the 18th century was very poor compared with what is available today, yet specialists who have worked on J.C.Dale's specimens, have found his determinations remarkably accurate.
The Dalean Collection.
This large collection of every insect order is by far the most important surviving historical British assemblage of specimens. Many of the specimens were captured by J.C. Dale in the early to mid - 19th century. A large number of specimens were later added by his son, Charles William Dale (1853-1906). This collection is a testament to the much richer insect fauna that once occurred in 19th century Britain. J.C. Dale was among the first entomologists to see the importance of having lepidoptera specimens of the same species, from a wide geographical area of the British Isles. Dale was then able to study the interesting variation that occurred in the different localities. James Charles Dale and his son were also among the first entomologists to add numbers of lepidoptera aberrations to their collection. The collection has many wonderful specimens of lepidoptera aberrations, some of which are unique. Various specimens in the Dale collection, of the more extreme aberrations were depicted in the 19th century entomological literature . Certainly, during the period J.C. Dale and C.W. Dale were collecting, most collectors were content to have just a short series of normal specimens. In the Dalean collection there are also specimens caught by some of the other fathers of British entomology. These include specimens caught by James Petiver (1660-1717) and Edward Donovan ( 1768-1837). Occasionally, J.C. Dale would visit the London auction houses to enrich his collection and C.W. Dale followed in his fathers footsteps to the sales. C.W. Dale left the collection and his fathers very important and now famous diaries, letters and manuscripts in a bequest to the Hope Department at Oxford. This was in accordance with his fathers wishes, who had promised the Hope Professor of Zoology ' J.O. Westwood ' ( 1805-1893) that his collection would be left to the University Museum.
Figure 1 - Series of Callimorpha dominula. Normal specimens with an extreme melanic example that was bred by Samuel Stevens from a larvae he collected at St Margaret's Bay at Cliffe in Kent during 1872. Bought by C.W. Dale at the sale of the Stevens collection in 1903.
Figure 2 - Unique mixed gynandromorph of Argynnis paphia. The female element looks to be the female form valezina. Caught by Charles Gulliver in the New Forest in 1879, acquired by C.W. Dale when he bought the J.G. Ross collection. Mentioned by J. Jenner Weir in ' Notes from the New Forest ' in the ' Entomologist ' for 1880, Vol 13, Page 260.
Figure 3 & 4 - Unique aberration of Melanargia galathea taken in the early part of the 19th century by Le Plastrier at Dover in Kent. The extreme recto & verso aberration was acquired by J.C. Dale. This specimen was figured by the Rev William T. Bree in the 1832 edition of Loudon's Magazine of Natural History, Vol 5, Pages 335-336 ( Shown above) . Later this aberration was figured by H. N. Humphreys on plate 17 , in J.O. Westwood's British Butterflies and their Transformations, published in 1841. It was also figured on plate 13 by the Rev F.O. Morris in his ' History of British Butterflies ' published in 1853.
Figure 5 - Early aberration of Argynnis paphia taken by Edward Donovan during 1803, bought at the sale of the S. Stevens collection by C.W. Dale.
Commander James John Walker ( 1851-1939) retired to Oxford and he was the first entomologist to study the Dalean Collection, shortly after its arrival at the Hope Department. Walker published detailed Lepidoptera & Odonata species accounts with information on the special specimens in an excellent series of articles that was published in ' Entomologist Monthly Magazine ' between 1907 & 1911 . Walker was an editor of this magazine from 1907 until his death in 1939. A colleague mentioned that during Walker's time in the Royal Navy, there was no part of the world's coastline that he did not visit. His important World collection of lepidoptera was shared between Oxford and the BMNH. When Walker was studying the collections at the Hope Department, he used to sit on a bench in the old British Room, humming to himself and singing sea shanties and home-made rhymes.
In 1900, C.W. Dale wrote an interesting article for the Dorset Natural History & Archaeological Sociey journal, on his and his late fathers collections. He mentions that in 1837, the well known entomologist, the Reverend F.O. Morris ( 1810-1893) visited J.C. Dale at Glanvilles Wootton to view the insect collection. There were then 120 drawers of British insects. By 1900, C.W. Dale had added 1,950 species to his late fathers now larger collection and there were 375 large cabinet drawers. The butterflies alone filled 24 large drawers. C.W. Dale mentioned that the most valuable drawer contained his fathers fine series of the following extinct British species, the Large Copper Lycaena dispar, the Scarce Copper Lycaena virgaureae and the Mazarine Blue Cyaniris semiargus. There were 50 drawers of Coleoptera, one containing hundreds of small species. The rest of the drawers were made up of the true bugs, ants, dragonflies, bees, wasps, sawflies, caddis flies, scorpion flies, snake flies, ichneumon flies, crane flies, midges, earwigs, grasshoppers and others.
James Charles Dale the Early Years.
On December the 13th 1791, James Dale was born into wealthy landed gentry at the village of Iwerne Minster in Dorset . The family home was a fine house in the nearby town of Blandford. J.C. Dale first prepartory school was at the market town of Wimborne in Dorset. Here Dale met a pupil named Stovey, whose father was the Reverend William Stovey, the rector of the village Hinton Martell, situated to the south-east of Wimborne. The Reverend gave young Dale a specimen of the very rare British moth known then as the ' Clifton Nonpariel ' Catocala fraxini, which he took during 1740 in the woods at Boveridge near Cranborne in Dorset. This early historical specimen is still to be found in the Dalean collection. When he was just nine years old in 1800, Dale took a very rare immigrant to Britain, a Queen of Spain Fritillary, Issoria lathonia near Sturminster Newton in Dorset ; one of the first specimens to be captured in this country. No doubt this important and exciting capture fired young James's enthusiasm to become a serious collector. While at school Dale loaned a copy of the famous book the 1766 ' Aurelian ' by Moses Harris and he was so taken with this work that he copied out the plates and text.
Figure 6 - Catocala fraxini taken by the Rev William Stovey in 1740 and given to the young J. C. Dale. Although in a faded condition, perhaps from being subjected to exposure to light from being hung on a wall in a case, this is the first known British specimen.
After a short time at Wimborne grammer school, J.C. Dale was sent in 1807 to a private tutor at Enborne near Newbury in Berkshire. Dale spent his spare time at Enborne roaming the woods and fields in search of insects. At Enborne his skill as a collector was becoming apparent ; he took both male and female specimens of the elusive and much sought after Purple Emperor Apatura iris. Later, he was given an extreme aberration of the Marsh Fritillary Euphydryas aurina from this locality. All these specimens can be found in his collection. At Enborne, he found the larvae of the now extinct Black-veined White Aporia crataegi on an apple tree and he bred a small series.
Figure 7 - Male Purple Emperor Apatura iris taken by J. C Dale over two hundred years ago in the early 19th century at Enborne in Berkshire.
Figure 8 - Female Apatura iris taken at Enborne by J.C. Dale.
Glanvilles Wootton.
In 1767, J.C. Dale's Grandfather, Captain Dale of the East India Company, purchased the manor house at Glanvilles Wooton in Dorset. J.C. Dale's father, James senior, had it rebuilt in 1804, moving there soon afterwards with his family. Glanvilles Wooton is situated in the rich farming land of Dorset's Blackmoor Vale, where there are many woods and copses that were once part of the ancient hunting forest of Selwood. Dale found that Glanvilles Wootton was very rich in insects. There were the families delightful cattle hay meadows, the chalk down of Dungeon's Hill, the gorse and heather of Newlands Common and the wet bog of Cosmore Quag to explore. Newland Common and Cosmore Quag where Dale hunted insects has long since disappeared through agricultural improvement. The butterfly fauna that Dale encountered in his parish of Glanvilles Wootton is very different to what may be found there today.
Glanvilles Wootton became Dale's happy hunting ground and he was never more content than when he was roaming the countryside there in search of insects. During a lifetime of collecting insects in the parish of Glanvilles Wootton, J.C. Dale made the most complete insect collection and records of any area of Britain. He found the Black-veined White Aporia crataegi at Glanvilles Wootton between 1808-1815, then it mysteriously disappeared and was not seen again. He first found, the now extinct British Mazarine Blue Cyaniris semiargus, in his father's hay meadow called ' Mullett's Long Ground ' on July 22nd 1808. Further specimens of Cyaniris semiargus were taken in this meadow in successive years and nearby in the neighbourhood until it finally disappeared in 1841. By the end of the 19th century, one by one the of colonies of Cyaniris semiargus would disappear from Britain for no apparent reason. On June 9th 1806 Dale, his father and sister went to Batcombe Hill, five miles south-west of Glanvilles Wootton and while they were there, his sister saw several Swallowtails Papilio machaon. Dale later took Papilio machaon at Glanvilles Wootton during 1908 and it was frequent until 1815, when the last specimen was taken on Newland Common on August 17th of that year. Dale had also previously found two Swallowtail larvae feeding on Wild Carrot. Dale's Papilio machaon specimens belonged to the continental race subspecies gorganus. The heavier marked British endemic Papilo machaon brittanicus was also later collected the fens of East Anglia by J.C. Dale. There is good evidence that Papilio machaon gorganus was once widespread in Dorset. Dale's friend the Reverend Stovey had taken a number of Papilio machaon in Dorset and had given specimens to Dale . During 1806, while he was at school in Wimborne, Dale saw a case full of Papilio machaon at Merley House, that were all taken in Dorset. It is thought that P. machaon gorganus at certain periods in the 18th century was able to temporary establish itself in Southern England from the continent.
Figure 9 - Female specimens of the Mazarine Blue Cyaniris semiargus taken by J.C. Dale at Glanvilles Wootton, Dorset. The top specimen is the one that was shown in E.B. Ford's famous 1945 book Butterflies, see Plate one 'Historic Butterflies ' figure 9.
Figure 10 - Male specimens of Cyaniris semiargus taken by J.C. Dale at Glanvilles Wootton.
Figure 11 - Top . Male Papilio machaon brittannicus taken at Cambridge by J.C. Dale on July 24th 1817. Bottom. The last specimen of Papilio Machaon gorganus taken by J.C Dale was this female captured on Newland Common near Glanvilles Wootton on August 17th 1815.
Figure 12 - Black-veined White Aporia crataegi taken by J.C. Dale at Glanvilles Wootton in May 1808.
Figure 13 - Top. Specimen of Aporia crataegi taken by J.C. Dale in the New Forest. Bottom . The last specimen of A. crataegi taken by J.C. Dale at Glanvilles Wootton on June 10th 1815.
Figure 14 & 15 - Extreme aberrations of the Marsh Fritillary Euphydryas aurinia. Top. Specimen given to J.C. Dale by Mr St Maur who captured it at Enborne Berkshire on June 15th 1813. Bottom. Aberration signifera taken by Captain Bloomer in the early part of the 19th century at Haverfordwest in Pembrokeshire in Wales. These aberrations appeared in an article by J.C. Dale published in Loudon's Magazine of Natural History, Vol 6 pages 375-376 1833, with his notes on butterfly appearances ( Shown above). J.C. Dale had purchased Captain Bloomer's collection.
Part Two and further specimens to follow.
I have written briefly about the life of the great British 19th century collector J.C. Dale before and shown some of his specimens from his incomparable collection of British insects. This article looks at the life of J.C. Dale in further detail, with a selection of his and his son Charles, cherished historic specimens. I have found much information in an unpublished biography of J.C. Dale written in 1980 by S.C.S. Brown. I have recently accessed the J.C. Dale diaries and have made further studies of his lepidoptera collection at Oxford . The Dale collection contains a number of the oldest set specimens in the world, captured at the very dawn of insect collecting. Dale's specimens have shown that if properly cared for, an insect collection can be a valuable study resource for future entomologists.
James Charles Dale (1792-1872) was one of the fathers of British entomology. S.C.S. Brown wrote that " J.C. Dale was one of the first to place entomology on a scientific basis, by accurate determinations and detailed descriptions of material ". Literature on insects in the early part of the 18th century was very poor compared with what is available today, yet specialists who have worked on J.C.Dale's specimens, have found his determinations remarkably accurate.
The Dalean Collection.
This large collection of every insect order is by far the most important surviving historical British assemblage of specimens. Many of the specimens were captured by J.C. Dale in the early to mid - 19th century. A large number of specimens were later added by his son, Charles William Dale (1853-1906). This collection is a testament to the much richer insect fauna that once occurred in 19th century Britain. J.C. Dale was among the first entomologists to see the importance of having lepidoptera specimens of the same species, from a wide geographical area of the British Isles. Dale was then able to study the interesting variation that occurred in the different localities. James Charles Dale and his son were also among the first entomologists to add numbers of lepidoptera aberrations to their collection. The collection has many wonderful specimens of lepidoptera aberrations, some of which are unique. Various specimens in the Dale collection, of the more extreme aberrations were depicted in the 19th century entomological literature . Certainly, during the period J.C. Dale and C.W. Dale were collecting, most collectors were content to have just a short series of normal specimens. In the Dalean collection there are also specimens caught by some of the other fathers of British entomology. These include specimens caught by James Petiver (1660-1717) and Edward Donovan ( 1768-1837). Occasionally, J.C. Dale would visit the London auction houses to enrich his collection and C.W. Dale followed in his fathers footsteps to the sales. C.W. Dale left the collection and his fathers very important and now famous diaries, letters and manuscripts in a bequest to the Hope Department at Oxford. This was in accordance with his fathers wishes, who had promised the Hope Professor of Zoology ' J.O. Westwood ' ( 1805-1893) that his collection would be left to the University Museum.
Figure 1 - Series of Callimorpha dominula. Normal specimens with an extreme melanic example that was bred by Samuel Stevens from a larvae he collected at St Margaret's Bay at Cliffe in Kent during 1872. Bought by C.W. Dale at the sale of the Stevens collection in 1903.
Figure 2 - Unique mixed gynandromorph of Argynnis paphia. The female element looks to be the female form valezina. Caught by Charles Gulliver in the New Forest in 1879, acquired by C.W. Dale when he bought the J.G. Ross collection. Mentioned by J. Jenner Weir in ' Notes from the New Forest ' in the ' Entomologist ' for 1880, Vol 13, Page 260.
Figure 3 & 4 - Unique aberration of Melanargia galathea taken in the early part of the 19th century by Le Plastrier at Dover in Kent. The extreme recto & verso aberration was acquired by J.C. Dale. This specimen was figured by the Rev William T. Bree in the 1832 edition of Loudon's Magazine of Natural History, Vol 5, Pages 335-336 ( Shown above) . Later this aberration was figured by H. N. Humphreys on plate 17 , in J.O. Westwood's British Butterflies and their Transformations, published in 1841. It was also figured on plate 13 by the Rev F.O. Morris in his ' History of British Butterflies ' published in 1853.
Figure 5 - Early aberration of Argynnis paphia taken by Edward Donovan during 1803, bought at the sale of the S. Stevens collection by C.W. Dale.
Commander James John Walker ( 1851-1939) retired to Oxford and he was the first entomologist to study the Dalean Collection, shortly after its arrival at the Hope Department. Walker published detailed Lepidoptera & Odonata species accounts with information on the special specimens in an excellent series of articles that was published in ' Entomologist Monthly Magazine ' between 1907 & 1911 . Walker was an editor of this magazine from 1907 until his death in 1939. A colleague mentioned that during Walker's time in the Royal Navy, there was no part of the world's coastline that he did not visit. His important World collection of lepidoptera was shared between Oxford and the BMNH. When Walker was studying the collections at the Hope Department, he used to sit on a bench in the old British Room, humming to himself and singing sea shanties and home-made rhymes.
In 1900, C.W. Dale wrote an interesting article for the Dorset Natural History & Archaeological Sociey journal, on his and his late fathers collections. He mentions that in 1837, the well known entomologist, the Reverend F.O. Morris ( 1810-1893) visited J.C. Dale at Glanvilles Wootton to view the insect collection. There were then 120 drawers of British insects. By 1900, C.W. Dale had added 1,950 species to his late fathers now larger collection and there were 375 large cabinet drawers. The butterflies alone filled 24 large drawers. C.W. Dale mentioned that the most valuable drawer contained his fathers fine series of the following extinct British species, the Large Copper Lycaena dispar, the Scarce Copper Lycaena virgaureae and the Mazarine Blue Cyaniris semiargus. There were 50 drawers of Coleoptera, one containing hundreds of small species. The rest of the drawers were made up of the true bugs, ants, dragonflies, bees, wasps, sawflies, caddis flies, scorpion flies, snake flies, ichneumon flies, crane flies, midges, earwigs, grasshoppers and others.
James Charles Dale the Early Years.
On December the 13th 1791, James Dale was born into wealthy landed gentry at the village of Iwerne Minster in Dorset . The family home was a fine house in the nearby town of Blandford. J.C. Dale first prepartory school was at the market town of Wimborne in Dorset. Here Dale met a pupil named Stovey, whose father was the Reverend William Stovey, the rector of the village Hinton Martell, situated to the south-east of Wimborne. The Reverend gave young Dale a specimen of the very rare British moth known then as the ' Clifton Nonpariel ' Catocala fraxini, which he took during 1740 in the woods at Boveridge near Cranborne in Dorset. This early historical specimen is still to be found in the Dalean collection. When he was just nine years old in 1800, Dale took a very rare immigrant to Britain, a Queen of Spain Fritillary, Issoria lathonia near Sturminster Newton in Dorset ; one of the first specimens to be captured in this country. No doubt this important and exciting capture fired young James's enthusiasm to become a serious collector. While at school Dale loaned a copy of the famous book the 1766 ' Aurelian ' by Moses Harris and he was so taken with this work that he copied out the plates and text.
Figure 6 - Catocala fraxini taken by the Rev William Stovey in 1740 and given to the young J. C. Dale. Although in a faded condition, perhaps from being subjected to exposure to light from being hung on a wall in a case, this is the first known British specimen.
After a short time at Wimborne grammer school, J.C. Dale was sent in 1807 to a private tutor at Enborne near Newbury in Berkshire. Dale spent his spare time at Enborne roaming the woods and fields in search of insects. At Enborne his skill as a collector was becoming apparent ; he took both male and female specimens of the elusive and much sought after Purple Emperor Apatura iris. Later, he was given an extreme aberration of the Marsh Fritillary Euphydryas aurina from this locality. All these specimens can be found in his collection. At Enborne, he found the larvae of the now extinct Black-veined White Aporia crataegi on an apple tree and he bred a small series.
Figure 7 - Male Purple Emperor Apatura iris taken by J. C Dale over two hundred years ago in the early 19th century at Enborne in Berkshire.
Figure 8 - Female Apatura iris taken at Enborne by J.C. Dale.
Glanvilles Wootton.
In 1767, J.C. Dale's Grandfather, Captain Dale of the East India Company, purchased the manor house at Glanvilles Wooton in Dorset. J.C. Dale's father, James senior, had it rebuilt in 1804, moving there soon afterwards with his family. Glanvilles Wooton is situated in the rich farming land of Dorset's Blackmoor Vale, where there are many woods and copses that were once part of the ancient hunting forest of Selwood. Dale found that Glanvilles Wootton was very rich in insects. There were the families delightful cattle hay meadows, the chalk down of Dungeon's Hill, the gorse and heather of Newlands Common and the wet bog of Cosmore Quag to explore. Newland Common and Cosmore Quag where Dale hunted insects has long since disappeared through agricultural improvement. The butterfly fauna that Dale encountered in his parish of Glanvilles Wootton is very different to what may be found there today.
Glanvilles Wootton became Dale's happy hunting ground and he was never more content than when he was roaming the countryside there in search of insects. During a lifetime of collecting insects in the parish of Glanvilles Wootton, J.C. Dale made the most complete insect collection and records of any area of Britain. He found the Black-veined White Aporia crataegi at Glanvilles Wootton between 1808-1815, then it mysteriously disappeared and was not seen again. He first found, the now extinct British Mazarine Blue Cyaniris semiargus, in his father's hay meadow called ' Mullett's Long Ground ' on July 22nd 1808. Further specimens of Cyaniris semiargus were taken in this meadow in successive years and nearby in the neighbourhood until it finally disappeared in 1841. By the end of the 19th century, one by one the of colonies of Cyaniris semiargus would disappear from Britain for no apparent reason. On June 9th 1806 Dale, his father and sister went to Batcombe Hill, five miles south-west of Glanvilles Wootton and while they were there, his sister saw several Swallowtails Papilio machaon. Dale later took Papilio machaon at Glanvilles Wootton during 1908 and it was frequent until 1815, when the last specimen was taken on Newland Common on August 17th of that year. Dale had also previously found two Swallowtail larvae feeding on Wild Carrot. Dale's Papilio machaon specimens belonged to the continental race subspecies gorganus. The heavier marked British endemic Papilo machaon brittanicus was also later collected the fens of East Anglia by J.C. Dale. There is good evidence that Papilio machaon gorganus was once widespread in Dorset. Dale's friend the Reverend Stovey had taken a number of Papilio machaon in Dorset and had given specimens to Dale . During 1806, while he was at school in Wimborne, Dale saw a case full of Papilio machaon at Merley House, that were all taken in Dorset. It is thought that P. machaon gorganus at certain periods in the 18th century was able to temporary establish itself in Southern England from the continent.
Figure 9 - Female specimens of the Mazarine Blue Cyaniris semiargus taken by J.C. Dale at Glanvilles Wootton, Dorset. The top specimen is the one that was shown in E.B. Ford's famous 1945 book Butterflies, see Plate one 'Historic Butterflies ' figure 9.
Figure 10 - Male specimens of Cyaniris semiargus taken by J.C. Dale at Glanvilles Wootton.
Figure 11 - Top . Male Papilio machaon brittannicus taken at Cambridge by J.C. Dale on July 24th 1817. Bottom. The last specimen of Papilio Machaon gorganus taken by J.C Dale was this female captured on Newland Common near Glanvilles Wootton on August 17th 1815.
Figure 12 - Black-veined White Aporia crataegi taken by J.C. Dale at Glanvilles Wootton in May 1808.
Figure 13 - Top. Specimen of Aporia crataegi taken by J.C. Dale in the New Forest. Bottom . The last specimen of A. crataegi taken by J.C. Dale at Glanvilles Wootton on June 10th 1815.
Figure 14 & 15 - Extreme aberrations of the Marsh Fritillary Euphydryas aurinia. Top. Specimen given to J.C. Dale by Mr St Maur who captured it at Enborne Berkshire on June 15th 1813. Bottom. Aberration signifera taken by Captain Bloomer in the early part of the 19th century at Haverfordwest in Pembrokeshire in Wales. These aberrations appeared in an article by J.C. Dale published in Loudon's Magazine of Natural History, Vol 6 pages 375-376 1833, with his notes on butterfly appearances ( Shown above). J.C. Dale had purchased Captain Bloomer's collection.
Part Two and further specimens to follow.