Hope Department of Entomology, Oxford
Over the past couple of months, I have been fortunate to spend some considerable time in the good company of Pete Eeles at the Hope Department of Entomology at Oxford’s University Museum of Natural History (OUMNH). Pete, who runs the UK Butterflies website at www.ukbutterflies.co.uk, has added, and continues to add, considerable value to this excellent resource and it has been my pleasure to join him on what can only be described as a mutually rewarding adventure of discovery.
As an example of our earlier and continuing research the Large Blue (Phengaris (Maculinea) arion) has played a significant role. Our studies have involved tracking down specimens from lost colonies and reviewing historic literature relating to their final outposts e.g. from areas including North Cornwall, South Devon, Somerset, the Cotswolds and Barnwell Wold in Northamptonshire. The image capture process, expertly undertaken by Katherine Child (OUMNH), has provided an excellent means of better understanding the original descriptions and has provided an excellent graphical means of comparing regional colonies. Some of the specimens we have selected for inclusion are historic in their own right, in that they have been used in past reference works, not least, the Barnwell Wold specimens of P. arion from the important Dale collection, which feature on Plate 12, Figures 1 and 2, in Butterflies by E. B. Ford (pictured below).
Of the literature, which has been reviewed, the diaries and correspondences of the late James Charles Dale (1792-1872) have transported us to a period when Large Coppers, Mazarine Blues, Swallowtails, Bath Whites and other lepidopteran wonders graced our countryside. The middle image below, showing Dale's log from circa 1835, is of particular interest as it details the capture of Papilio arion, now Phengaris arion, from Mouse's Pasture, Bromham near Bedford. Examination of other diaries in Dale's archive also indicate reference to this location which is referred to in A History of British Butterflies by the Rev. F. O. Morris, 1853. Dale’s diaries and communications have sometimes been a challenge to read, but the effort has been worth it, as their contents continue to take flight into our imagination.
The search continues ...
National disgrace ...
"Due to the care of past curators, we can (for example) still handle specimens actually from Linnaeus's personal cabinets, as well as others collected and prepared by later giants in the history of biology, Raffles, Darwin and Wallace among them. Ownership of these collections in trust carries an obligation to maintain them in good state and to make them accessible to enquirers and research workers at home and abroad".
Earl of Cranbrook, 1991. Standards in the Museum Care of Biological Collections, 2, 1992. Museums & Galleries Commission.
In early November 2012, The Museums Association (MA) held their annual Conference and Exhibition at the Edinburgh International Conference Centre (EICC). Reported to be the largest gathering of museums and heritage professionals in Europe, it showcases suppliers, hosts workshops and various meetings. Darren Mann of the Hope Entomological Collections (HEC) was there as a speaker to present a talk entitled ‘The Elephant in the Room’ which tackled some of the difficult questions that are currently being raised about the future of natural history collections in the UK.
What questions are those?
Well, here is the background in a nutshell:
"Natural history collections are under threat but are vital for taxonomic research, environmental monitoring and education. The number of specialist curators is declining, so should collections be redistributed to centres of excellence or are there other solutions for orphaned collections?"
The main question that is raised by this is - How do we prevent the loss of these collections? and it is one that is very much on the minds of all natural history curators at the moment as we hear of more collections being 'moth-balled' (put away into storage) and the loss of curators through redundancies or down-sizing, leaving many collections without people to care for them, interpret them or make them available for research. The biggest threat of course, comes to the collections themselves, which may become damaged or lost altogether through poor storage and lack of care. For example, any item with fur, feather or chitin (e.g. taxidermy mounts or insect specimens) are open to attack from a host of pests including the one most reviled by curators, Anthrenus, which, whilst being a rather pretty little beetle, views an insect collection as an assemblage of tasty snacks (see image below). In a round up of the problems associated with deciding the future of these collections, Darren Mann pointed out that despite their huge popularity with the general public there has been a movement in the museums sector away from natural history and towards the arts and social sciences. To put some perspective on this, the Ashmolean Museum recently spent £7.83 million on Edouard Manet’s Portrait of Mademoiselle Claus; a single painting! For the same amount of money the entire UK entomological collections held outside the Nationals and University Museums, of over 10 million specimens, could have been re-housed (including salary costs) and systematically arranged in modern pest proof storage.
One curator recently wrote "There are now more pandas living in Edinburgh than there are natural history curators employed in the whole of East Midlands, West Midlands and South Yorkshire put together".
This surely can't be right?
Images copyright OUMNH. Photographed by Katherine Child, Hope Department of Entomology.
Oxford University Museum - Part 1
I have visited the Oxford University Museum of Natural History (OUMNH) on numerous occasions and, in particular, have a long-term association with the Department of Entomology, as my good friend Darren Mann holds the position of Assistant Curator, and my friend and work colleague Dr John Ismay, Honorary Associate Curator. I have also donated a number of specimens to the collection, including the social wasp Dolichovespula saxonica following my discovery of it breeding at two locations in Britain in 1991.
The Hope Entomological Collections are located within the OUMNH and house over 25,000 types and comprises in excess of 5 million specimens of insects, arachnids and myriapods. This, along with its extensive library and historic archives, form one of the most comprehensive and important entomological resources within the United Kingdom. The collections are second only in size and importance to the national insect collection housed at the Natural History Museum, London.
The collection began life with the bequest by the Reverend Frederick William Hope (1797-1862) of his entire collection in 1849. The Hope Professors, John Westwood (1805-1893), Edward Poulton (1856-1943), Geoffrey Hale Carpenter (1882-1953) and George Varley (1910-1983) also amassed large amounts of material through both their own research and from donations by some of the most prominent entomologists of the day including, Charles Swinhoe (1838-1923), James John Walker (1851-1939), Arthur Wallace Pickard-Cambridge (1873-1952), Albert Harry Hamm (1861-1951), Edward Saunders (1848-1910), Bertram Maurice Hobby (1905-1983), Karl Richard Hanitsch (1860-1940), James Charles Dale (1792-1872) and his son Charles William Dale, John Curtis (1791-1862), John Francillon (1744-1816), Pierre André Latreille (1762-1833), Christian Gottfried Nees von Esenbeck (1776-1858), Henri de Saussure (1829-1905), Alfred Russel Wallace (1823-1913) and Thomas Vernon Wollaston (1822-1878).
Of particular significance are:
➢ Hope-Westwood collections
➢ Extensive historic collections
➢ The Verrall-Collin collection of Diptera
➢ Comprehensive British collections
➢ The Wytham Woods collections
➢ The Pickard-Cambridge and Blackwall arachnid collections
The C. W. and J. C. Dale collection is probably one of the most impressive single collections of British insects, with over 50,000 specimens. This collection includes specimens used by Curtis, Haliday and Stephens in their published works. The Dale collection also contains the famous Bath White (Pontia daplidice), reputedly collected in Cambridge in May 1702, which is believed to be the oldest known pinned entomological specimen in the world.
The Hope Department of Entomology is an energetic and vibrant department of dedicated staff and associates, promoting entomology and the collections under their care to the highest level. The collections, Library and associated archives are a significant world resource that is accessible for research by appointment. Housed in a Grade 1 listed building, which is renowned for its spectacular neo-Gothic architecture, I highly recommend a visit to this wonderful museum ...
Don't miss it ...
http://www.oum.ox.ac.uk/collect/entom.htm
