The Arlington Stamp and Collectibles Gallery

Return to the Prints and Engravings Index

Botanical Prints #1 | Botanical Prints #2 | Botanical Prints #3 | Botanical Prints #4 | Botanical Prints #5 | Butterfly Prints #1

The Apaturin Butterfly

Order Item BSM-P85

$25.00

Captain Thomas Brown (1785-1862), was a British naturalist born in Perth, Scotland and was educated at the Edinburgh High School. After joining the Forfar and Kineardine Militia at the age of twenty, he was raised to rank of Captain in 1811. While quartered in Manchester, he became interested in nature. He purchased the Fifeshire flax mill after his regiment was disbanded. The mill burned down before he had the opportunity to insure it. Also a malacologist (studying mollusks), he began to write books about nature to earn a living. For twenty-two years beginning in 1840, he was curator of the Manchester Museum. Additionally, he became a fellow of the Linnean Society, a member of the Wernerian, Kirwanian, and Phrenological Societies. Of the several natural history books he wrote, some dealt with conchology (studying the shells of mollusks). There was a shell named after him called Zebina browniana.

Plate XLII, Papilio apaturina. The Apaturina butterfly has velvet black upper wings with a double row of white dotes along their disk, with two sub-lunar white patches next to the oval margin. Within these are three white spots with a sub-lunar patch below. All these patches are half covered with pale royal blue. The lower wings are black with a very broad band extending nearly half the length of the wing. About an eighth of an inch from the oval margin is an articulate white band. The body is black. When the wings are expanded, it is about two and a half inches broad. It is native to the island of Java.

This particular plate is an original hand-coloured engraving from "The Book of Butterfies, Sphinges, and Moths" by Captain Thomas Brown, Volume One (1834). This bright, vividly coloured plate measures approximately 4 X 6.5 inches. It is exceptionally clean for the age. The engraved portion could be matted and/or framed to an area 3 .5 inches square, or larger to include the plate number and name of butterfly. The corresponding descriptive text page is included with the purchase of this fine engraving.

Return to the Prints and Engravings Index

Visit the Arlington Stamp and Collectibles Gallery Home Page


Whatever your passion, Hobbizine helps you enjoy your favorite hobbies and pastimes to the fullest.
Informative articles and guides on stamp collecting, trading cards, coin collecting, dolls and miniatures,
model railroads, rc cars and planes, aquariums and much more. Plus a free classified ad marketplace to
buy and sell. Click Here: Hobbizine