Download or read book The Aurelian Legacy – a History of British Butterflies and their Collectors written by Michael Salmon and published by BRILL. This book was released on 2021-10-25 with total page 432 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Although the collecting of butterflies is today an emotive subject, it is impossible to separate a history of British butterflies from a history of their collectors, without whose activities our knowledge of the identification, occurrence, distribution, and variation of British butterflies would be much the poorer. Liberally laced with contemporary quotations, this book brings to life the past three hundred years of butterfly study, with details of early societies, collecting equipment, biographies of 101 deceased lepidopterists, with portraits where available, as well as the chequered history in Britain of some 35 species of butterfly. The colour plates include some of the finest butterfly illustrations ever.