“The beauty and brilliancy of this insect are indescribable, and none but a naturalist can understand…”
“”The beauty and brilliancy of this insect are indescribable, and none but a naturalist can understand the intense excitement I experienced when I at length captured it. On taking it out of my net and opening the glorious wings, my heart began to beat violently, the blood rushed to my head, and I felt much more like fainting than I have done when in apprehension of immediate death. I had a headache the rest of the day, so great was the excitement produced by what will appear to most people a very inadequate cause.””
–
Alfred Russel Wallace on the Wallace’s golden birdwing butterfly, 1869. (via unknown-endangered)
The story of Wallace’s travels through Indonesia is my favorite part of David Quammen’s Song of the Dodo.
Reposted from http://lies.tumblr.com/post/62832381455.
