Wollaston's Butterflies of the Snow Mountains

Wollaston's butterfly collecting in the Himalaya

A.F. R Wollaston joined the 1921 Mount Everest reconnaissance expedition as the doctor and naturalist. Although Wollaston went to the second camp on Mount Everest at 22,350 feet he was more content with making collections of natural history specimens at lower altitudes. Although the object of the British expedition was to find a route to the summit, an assault was made by George Mallory, Guy Bullock and Edward Wheeler that succeeded in reaching the North Col at 23,000 feet [ 7020 meters] . Here the small party were forced to turn back before bitter strong winds.

Wollaston found that the plants of the Hymalaya were of exceptional beauty and he wrote enthusiastically about them. Even the great George Mallory in his account of his exploration of the mountain wrote about the beauty of the Saxifrages and the Gentians that he encountered . Wollaston discovered a stunning Blue Primula at Nyenyam which was named after him and is credited with finding Arenaria bryophylla, a species of a low densly tufted Sandwort at an astonishing 6180 meters, the highest known altitude for a species of flowering plant. I have found a good account of the plants, birds and mammals that Wollaston collected . I have even found a review of the Coleoptera that Wollaston collected but have yet to find a list or review of the lepidoptera that he captured.

Wollaston certainly found collecting in Tibet difficult because of the Buddhist's beliefs and he did not do so in special sacred places where he mentions that he dare not even capture butterflies. He mentions collecting Colias and some Lycaena and chasing a high altitude Fritillary and missing it. Most of his references are to the collecting Papilionidae of the genus Parnassius. He writes that in the course of an excursion to the west and south of Tingri in Tibet he was going over the high pass of Thung- la at 16000 feet in July when he found numerous Parnassius butterflies and that he mentions that he had good fun in catching them. This was until the clouds became thick and it began to hail and sleet heavily. The next day going down into the next valley he caught some Parnassius butterflies that were of a different species. Previously to this, his friend Morshead had returned from an expedition 50 miles up the main river and had returned with some Parnassius butterflies and a few other things. There are a number of rare high altitude Parnassius species which are found in this part of Tibet. I would be very interested to know what the species of Parnassius butterlies were that Wollaston and Morshead collected and any other information on the butterflies that they found here. I know Wollaston's pressed botanical specimens went to Kew and almost certainly his butterflies went to the BMNH. It is known however that Wollaston had his own butterfly World collection that he kept in his house in several large cabinets.

Although Wollaston loved the very beautiful flora of Tibet, he never fell in love with the country and although he was asked to join the 1922 expedition, he declined. Sandy wrote " from Tibet, Our time here has been extraordinarily interesting,' but rather a picnic compared with New Guinea. I don't know that I ever want to come back. My chief delight has lain more in the indescribable beauty of the flowers and the sight of these mountains, than in the conquest of Everest itself'.

The 1921 Everest expedition members. Wollaston standing top left above the seated George Mallory.

Thanks A+ Michel and Norton, I am pleased that you enjoyed the post, I hoped to generate some interest in Sandy Wollaston, he was such a great collector, naturalist and explorer. Does anybody own a copy of S. Kocman's Parnassius of Tibet and Adjacent areas that was published as a limited edition in 2009. This book shows 1088 specimens in colour of the 26 species which are found in Tibet. If anybody does own a copy can they check for information on A.F.R. Wollaston as I believe he was one of the first people to collect Parnassius butterflies in unexplored areas of Tibet. Surely this book would have information on his exploits with Parnassius. The book may also show specimens that were collected by him. Any Parnassius specialists here know anything about the species Wollaston captured? Thanks Peter.

Adam. Thank you for your time and help and for looking through Kocman's book. A fascinating history of the British collecting Parnassius in Tibet. I am most intrigued that the new Parnassius dongalaica was discovered during the 1922 expedition. Is Parnassius dongalaica still retained as a good species today. Wollaston declined to join this expedition, he was only ever in Tibet during 1921.

Thanks for sharing all the information you gathered. I truly enjoyed reading your article. You just can't get this kind of literary/scientific/historical collaboration on any other website, so thanks to all for the additional posts. This made my day.

Wollaston's type specimens.

Mentioned in this thread were the new species of Delias that were discovered by the Wollaston expedition to New Guinea during 1912/1913. Shown here for the first time are the type specimens of Delias wollastoni, Delias klossi and Delias inexpectata that were captured on Carstensz in the Snow Mountains during Feb/March 1913. The Holotype specimens were described by Walter Rothschild in 1915 and were illustrated by fine colour figures on a plate [ shown in this thread] in his book ' Lepidoptera of the B.O.U. and Wollaston expedition in the Snow Mountains, Southern Dutch New Guinea. These high resolution images were taken by an expert at the British Museum of Natural History and show these rare specimens in very fine detail. They can only be shown here by obtaining a special license and remain the copyright of the BMNH of London and may not be reproduced in anyway. Also shown here for the first time , the specimen of the female of O. tithonus that was captured at the Wollaston base camp on the Oetakwa [ Utakwa Rivers ], the first ever of this important new population.
Surprisingly, although he had open access to the BMNH fine collections, Bernard d, Abrera choose not to figure any of these type specimens in his tour de force, The Butterflies of the Australian region [ last edition 1990 ]. In his account of Delias wollastoni, Abrera mentions that the male specimen figured was collected in the Moss Forest by the Archbold expedition but with no further details. Infact a number of specimens of Delias wollastoni were collected by the Third Archbold expedition [1938/1939] in the Moss Forest [Mosboschkamp] 5km north east of Lake Habbema at 2800 meters [Oct-Nov 1938] in the eastern Sudirman [Nassau] range of central Dutch New Guinea. Today the nearest large town is Warmena, three hours drive away. The specimens captured during the Archbold expedition were described by the German lepidopterist Walter Karl Johan Roepke [1882-1961] in 1955 as subspecies bryophila and which Abrera considered synonymous with the nominate race [ specimen]. I believe the D. wollastoni specimens collected on the Archbold expedition were eventually given to the Leiden Museum in the Netherlands with duplicates going to the American museum of Natural History. I must say that the type male specimen of Delias wollastoni captured on Carstensz in 1913 looks much lighter than other males of the various subspecies that have been collected in Central New Guinea, rather similar infact to females of this species. Archbold in his account of the expedition published in 1942 mentions that many good butterflies were taken at the Moss Forest camp and that butterflies, among them some particulary beautiful Delias, were prominent. The high mountain moss forest here consisted of mainly beech trees with a few conifers with a thick undergrowth with many ferns and orchids. Collecting parties here ascended to 3000 meters and one very rich locality for butterflies and other insects was at 2600 meters in an open ravine.

In his Butterflies of the Australian region, d' Abrera also chose not to show the type specimen of Delias Klossi but the subspecies chrysanthemum which was also collected on the Third Archbold expedition on the northern slopes of Mount Wilhelmia at over 3000 meters and described by Roepke in 1955. Most of the Delias specimens collected on the Third Archbold expedition were captured by the entomologist Dr L. J. Toxopeus, leader of the Netherlands scientific party. In all 100,000 insect specimens were collected on this very important expedition to New Guinea.
The then only know specimen of Delias inexpectata was not shown by d, Abrera because he placed D. inexpectata as a subspecies of Delias mira but then mentions that it appears to be a link between D. mira and D. mariae. Delias inexpectata is now know to be a good but very variable species.
Richard Archbold [ 1907-1976] was American oil tycoon who made a number of expeditions to New Guinea but the most important was his Third expedition made during 1938 and 1939.
Peter.

Wollaston's specimens held at the British Museum, showing upper and undersides with original data.



Delias Wollastoni, male holotype.



Delias Klossi, male holotype.



Delias inexpectata male holotype.



Wollaston's female Ornithoptera tithonus collected on the Oetakwa River.

Thanks, very interesting information on Delias Wollastoni. A rare species indeed. Collecting in the Pass and Baliem Valleys, must have been really quite a wonderful experience.