Thursday 2 August 2012

Multum in parvo

I come from England's biggest county which has just celebrated Yorkshire Day, but I concede that the best motto belongs to midget Rutland, way over at the bottom of the scale. Multum in parvo, a lot in a little, applies again and again in the world of moths.


Look at this one above, the Marbled Beauty, which is not a lot bigger than the end of my thumb (an average grown-up man's thumb) and yet displays such an intricate pattern of softly toned colours. It flew in last night and took its place unassumingly among the various Rustics and Quakers, assembled like a party at an English village in George Eliot's day.



Three others caught my eye because of their similar shape, a fan with the sinister overtones of those Vulcan V-bombers which used to swoop over the A1 in Lincolnshire.  They even have their own take on RAF camouflage; not surprisingly, because camouflage artists have always gone to the natural world for inspiration. Above, a Snout (check out that 'nose'!) and a Fan-foot and below, mmmm, an Umm...(Update: a Phoenix?) I will go back to bed with Penny and my tea and check it out.

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