Wonderful image, Julian. Recalling Carolyn K’s unanswerable question about VN’s ‘cruelty,’ I suppose it depends on whether you read Véra’s views, ask Dmitri, or hold a séance with VN’s collection of spiked and dissected butterflies. On balance, I side with those lepidopterists, like VN, whose studies have helped understand and preserve butterflies. At the same time, there’s the  disturbing paradox of the hunter’s pride in catching the rarest of the species, and thereby contributing to that rarity.

Stan Kelly-Bootle.

On 16/05/2010 15:35, "Julian Connolly" <jwc4w@VIRGINIA.EDU> wrote:

Given all the discussion of the last lines of Pale Fire lately, I thought I'd send along a nice image of a Vanessa atalanta that landed on my doorstep on Friday.

Best,
JC
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