John Gould’s illustration of Major Mitchell’s Cockatoo, Cacatua leadbeateri (now Lophochroa leadbeateri) (1865)
Two ’Toos View Youse
Tag Archives: Natural History
Ear ’Ere
Jelly-ear fungus, Auricularia auricula-judae
(click for larger)
Lost Lustre
“Adonis, M. Cytheris, and M. Menelaus, is indescribable; the eyes are pained as they gaze upon it; yet there is said to be an unnamed species from the emerald mountains of Bogota, of which a single specimen is in a private cabinet in London, which is far more lustrous than these.” — The Romance of Natural History (1861), Philip Henry Gosse
Monbiot’s Mothbiota
When they opened the trap, I was astonished by the range and beauty of their catch. There were pink and olive elephant hawkmoths; a pine hawkmoth, feathered and ashy; a buff arches, patterned and gilded like the back of a barn owl; flame moths in polished brass; the yellow kites of swallow-tailed moths; common emeralds the colour of a northern sea, with streaks of foam; grey daggers; a pebble prominent; heart and darts; coronets; riband waves; willow beauties; an elder pearl; small magpie; double-striped pug; rosy tabby. The names testify to a rich relationship between these creatures and those who love them. — George Monbiot, “Our selective blindness is lethal to the living world”, The Guardian, 20xii2017
Bird Up!
Also known as the Carolina parakeet, Conuropsis carolinensis, this bird is now extinct.
It’s a Mist-Tree
Tree in December Mist
(Click for larger)
Super Fly Guide
Various species of Hoverfly (click for larger)
Performativizing Papyrocentricity #63
Papyrocentric Performativity Presents:
• Bullets and Butterflies – Mad Dog Killers: The Story of a Congo Mercenary, Ivan Smith (Helion / 30° South Publishers 2012)
• Jaundiced on George – George Orwell: English Rebel, Robert Colls (Oxford University Press 2013)
• Crabsody in View – RSPB Handbook of the Seashore, Maya Plass (Bloomsbury 2013)
Or Read a Review at Random: RaRaR
Cats’ Ice
Cats are of divers colours, but for the most part griseld, like to congealed ise, which cometh from the condition of her meat: her head is like unto the head of a Lion, except in her sharp ears: her flesh is soft and smooth: her eyes glister above measure, especially when a man cometh to see them on the suddain, and in the night they can hardly be endured, for their flaming aspect. Wherefore Democritus describing the Persian Smaragde saith that it is not transparent, but filleth the eye with pleasant brightness, such as is in the eyes of Panthers and Cats, for they cast forth beams in the shadow and darkness, but in sunshine they have no such clearness, and thereof Alexander Aphrodise giveth this reason, both for the sight of Cats and Bats, that they have by nature a most sharpe spirit of seeing. — Edward Topsell, Historie of Foure-Footed Beastes (1658).
Dux de Luxe
A mandarin duck, Aix galericulata, in a Russian tree (from The In-Terms-in-Ator)
