Extreme Butterfly Collecting, Wilhelm Waidermar Brandt.
Sept 27, 2016 8:33:49 GMT
deliasfanatic, mygos, and 8 more like this
Post by nomad on Sept 27, 2016 8:33:49 GMT
Extreme Butterfly Collecting, Wilhelm Waidermar Brandt.
Not much has been written of the Entomologist W. W. Brandt (1904-1982.) There is practically nothing about him on the web, in spite of his Entomological discoveries of butterflies and moths from Papua New Guinea and other South Sea Islands that he made. Much of the information below is taken From the book " A Rich and Diverse Fauna: The History of the Australian National Collection 1926-1991 (1997). Good luck if you want to obtain a copy of that out of print work. My copy came from Holland. In this article I shall refer to W.W. Brandt as Bill, as he was usually known to his friends and colleagues.
Bill Brandt was of German extraction and he was born in St Petersburg in Russia. During 1919 he fled Russia and according to the ANIC article he lived with his brother at Herrala, Finland where both became interested in Palaearctic Lepidoptera and here they built a large collection which they later sold to the Stockholm Museum.
However, unless Bill Brandt had more than one brother who was an entomologist (Which I doubt), the biography of his sibling 'Fred Hermann Brandt' (1908-1994) would seem to suggest he went to live in Latvia not Finland. It seems a desire for adventure was not confined to Bill Brandt but was a feature of his older brother's life as well. See en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fred_Hermann_Brandt
F.H. Brandt collected Lepidoptera in Iran for two years between 1937-1939 where he discovered a number of new species.
In 1949 Bill Brandt left Europe for Australia to work for the businessmen Sir Edward Hallstrom as a Lepidoptera collector in Papua New Guinea and its Islands. During 1955 Hallstrom donated Bill Brandt's New Guinea Lepidoptera collections to the Australian National Insect Collection (ANIC) at Canberra. Brandt was employed by ANIC at Canberra until 1956 to work on his New Guinea collections. Bill Brandt then agreed to collect part-time in New Guinea and elsewhere for the Bishop Museum in Hawaii. However, the ANIC at Canberra were concerned at having their own New Guinea Lepidoptera undermined and with no improvement to it, they came to an agreement with Brandt for yearly fixed sum he would collect Lepidoptera for ANIC and the rest of his insects would go to Hawaii. From 1961 onward the situation changed, where all the insects that Brandt collected would go to the ANIC at Canberra.
In January 1957 Bill Brandt set off on an almost continuous seven year Expedition to New Guinea and its Islands. He started collecting on Normandy Island during 1957 and visited the remote Woodlark Island. Brandt collected in many areas of mainland New Guinea exploring often inaccessible mountain and lowland areas. Among the other Islands Brandt visited were New Britain where he collected on Mount Sinewit 25 miles from the nearest village. He also explored the Schleintz Mountains in New Ireland. Visiting Bougainville, he again went deep into the mountainous interior where he had collected for Hallstrom during 1953 and he also collected on Guadalcanal.
Brandt often lived in very rudimentary bush shelters. He insisted on setting all his insects in the field to get the best results and dried them in an oven heated with a pressure lamp and he painstakingly kept his specimens free of pests.
From the Torricelli Ranges in north-western Papua New Guinea, Brandt wrote in a letter to Canberra in February 1959 " First of all I need a break. I have been living in the bush and have been working practically non stop. I have no home, have no possibility to have a refrigerator, therefore cannot eat fresh meat etc. I am beginning to feel the strain. One can live on soup and meat out of tins, on biscuits and 'Sunshine' milk for some time, but not indefinitely. "
In November 1961, Brandt wrote from the Murmur Pass in the Mount Hagen Range in the New Guinea Highlands " I am happiest in the bush when I can do what like, and I always have more to do than I can handle". During that year Brandt applied to visit Dutch New Guinea but their Embassy wrote back that it was an inopportune time due to the fact that the Island was under imminent threat of invasion from the Indonesian military, who were already dropping paratroopers.
During 1963, Brandt was collecting on Mount Wilhelm, Papua New Guinea's highest mountain. Brandt set up camp on the mountain at 9.200 feet (2804 meters) for a month with his two native policemen that had been assigned to him for his protection. Here from two huts built by the local tribesmen that were always damp, Brandt wrote in a letter to Canberra " At my camp, naturally, I tried to do some light trapping. Did not get much. Whenever there was the slightest hope that the evening might be all right, I went to Lake Aunde. That was an undertaking bordering on madness. I had to carry the lamps, killing bottles, etc two hours walk and a climb of 2,000 feet. I could not get back the same night, not being able to see ahead properly. Had to stay on top until the following morning, shivering. By then I had a temperature. There was another difficulty. The altitude did not affect me as long as I kept walking or standing. What was bad for me was every time I had to bend down I had to fight a blackout for a few seconds. I kept working on my knees. To collect insect specimens properly it is imperative to have somewhere to live. A real hut, so as to be able to keep out the cold. I did not get as many specimens as I would have liked but whatever I got, especially at the higher altitudes, seems very interesting. It proves beyond doubt that the alpine grasslands have a fauna distinct of that of the high moss Forest".
l
Brandt ended his second great epic New Guinea-Islands journey on Rossel Island in October 1963. During 1969 Brandt resigned his position at the ANIC. When Brandt's New Guinea collection was donated by Hallstrom to the ANIC in 1955 it was housed in 20 steel entomological Cabinets. After Brandt had collected for a further seven years and then worked on the collection it filled 68 cabinets by the time he left the ANIC in 1969. By the early 1990s Brandt's collection had been expanded to 74 cabinets.
Bill Brandt published little but there is no doubt that W. W. Brandt was one of the finest field collectors of his time indeed one of best and most dedicated field entomologist's that have ever explored the remote mountains and Jungles of the truly wild places of this earth.
Acknowledgement. Thanks to Ted Edwards and his assistants at the ANIC for providing the image of Bill Brandt. It was his passport photo, he seems to have been very camera shy!
Next Bill Brandt and his discovery of Delias messalina with images provided by the ANIC.
Not much has been written of the Entomologist W. W. Brandt (1904-1982.) There is practically nothing about him on the web, in spite of his Entomological discoveries of butterflies and moths from Papua New Guinea and other South Sea Islands that he made. Much of the information below is taken From the book " A Rich and Diverse Fauna: The History of the Australian National Collection 1926-1991 (1997). Good luck if you want to obtain a copy of that out of print work. My copy came from Holland. In this article I shall refer to W.W. Brandt as Bill, as he was usually known to his friends and colleagues.
Bill Brandt was of German extraction and he was born in St Petersburg in Russia. During 1919 he fled Russia and according to the ANIC article he lived with his brother at Herrala, Finland where both became interested in Palaearctic Lepidoptera and here they built a large collection which they later sold to the Stockholm Museum.
However, unless Bill Brandt had more than one brother who was an entomologist (Which I doubt), the biography of his sibling 'Fred Hermann Brandt' (1908-1994) would seem to suggest he went to live in Latvia not Finland. It seems a desire for adventure was not confined to Bill Brandt but was a feature of his older brother's life as well. See en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fred_Hermann_Brandt
F.H. Brandt collected Lepidoptera in Iran for two years between 1937-1939 where he discovered a number of new species.
In 1949 Bill Brandt left Europe for Australia to work for the businessmen Sir Edward Hallstrom as a Lepidoptera collector in Papua New Guinea and its Islands. During 1955 Hallstrom donated Bill Brandt's New Guinea Lepidoptera collections to the Australian National Insect Collection (ANIC) at Canberra. Brandt was employed by ANIC at Canberra until 1956 to work on his New Guinea collections. Bill Brandt then agreed to collect part-time in New Guinea and elsewhere for the Bishop Museum in Hawaii. However, the ANIC at Canberra were concerned at having their own New Guinea Lepidoptera undermined and with no improvement to it, they came to an agreement with Brandt for yearly fixed sum he would collect Lepidoptera for ANIC and the rest of his insects would go to Hawaii. From 1961 onward the situation changed, where all the insects that Brandt collected would go to the ANIC at Canberra.
In January 1957 Bill Brandt set off on an almost continuous seven year Expedition to New Guinea and its Islands. He started collecting on Normandy Island during 1957 and visited the remote Woodlark Island. Brandt collected in many areas of mainland New Guinea exploring often inaccessible mountain and lowland areas. Among the other Islands Brandt visited were New Britain where he collected on Mount Sinewit 25 miles from the nearest village. He also explored the Schleintz Mountains in New Ireland. Visiting Bougainville, he again went deep into the mountainous interior where he had collected for Hallstrom during 1953 and he also collected on Guadalcanal.
Brandt often lived in very rudimentary bush shelters. He insisted on setting all his insects in the field to get the best results and dried them in an oven heated with a pressure lamp and he painstakingly kept his specimens free of pests.
From the Torricelli Ranges in north-western Papua New Guinea, Brandt wrote in a letter to Canberra in February 1959 " First of all I need a break. I have been living in the bush and have been working practically non stop. I have no home, have no possibility to have a refrigerator, therefore cannot eat fresh meat etc. I am beginning to feel the strain. One can live on soup and meat out of tins, on biscuits and 'Sunshine' milk for some time, but not indefinitely. "
In November 1961, Brandt wrote from the Murmur Pass in the Mount Hagen Range in the New Guinea Highlands " I am happiest in the bush when I can do what like, and I always have more to do than I can handle". During that year Brandt applied to visit Dutch New Guinea but their Embassy wrote back that it was an inopportune time due to the fact that the Island was under imminent threat of invasion from the Indonesian military, who were already dropping paratroopers.
During 1963, Brandt was collecting on Mount Wilhelm, Papua New Guinea's highest mountain. Brandt set up camp on the mountain at 9.200 feet (2804 meters) for a month with his two native policemen that had been assigned to him for his protection. Here from two huts built by the local tribesmen that were always damp, Brandt wrote in a letter to Canberra " At my camp, naturally, I tried to do some light trapping. Did not get much. Whenever there was the slightest hope that the evening might be all right, I went to Lake Aunde. That was an undertaking bordering on madness. I had to carry the lamps, killing bottles, etc two hours walk and a climb of 2,000 feet. I could not get back the same night, not being able to see ahead properly. Had to stay on top until the following morning, shivering. By then I had a temperature. There was another difficulty. The altitude did not affect me as long as I kept walking or standing. What was bad for me was every time I had to bend down I had to fight a blackout for a few seconds. I kept working on my knees. To collect insect specimens properly it is imperative to have somewhere to live. A real hut, so as to be able to keep out the cold. I did not get as many specimens as I would have liked but whatever I got, especially at the higher altitudes, seems very interesting. It proves beyond doubt that the alpine grasslands have a fauna distinct of that of the high moss Forest".
l
Brandt ended his second great epic New Guinea-Islands journey on Rossel Island in October 1963. During 1969 Brandt resigned his position at the ANIC. When Brandt's New Guinea collection was donated by Hallstrom to the ANIC in 1955 it was housed in 20 steel entomological Cabinets. After Brandt had collected for a further seven years and then worked on the collection it filled 68 cabinets by the time he left the ANIC in 1969. By the early 1990s Brandt's collection had been expanded to 74 cabinets.
Bill Brandt published little but there is no doubt that W. W. Brandt was one of the finest field collectors of his time indeed one of best and most dedicated field entomologist's that have ever explored the remote mountains and Jungles of the truly wild places of this earth.
Acknowledgement. Thanks to Ted Edwards and his assistants at the ANIC for providing the image of Bill Brandt. It was his passport photo, he seems to have been very camera shy!
Next Bill Brandt and his discovery of Delias messalina with images provided by the ANIC.