Nature Book Reader June 2020 - Flipbook - Page 43
behaviour - a science stranger
than fiction and a kind of
privileged knowledge. Linssen
emphasised experience of
the real things above books
about them. The text was
both avuncular and arcane.
The historic beetle plates
by Canon Fowler and
Scioedte’s larvae engravings
were coloured by AF Stuart.
These and the black & white
photographs and diagrams
held a kind of secret lore
that had been liberated,
democratised, and I devoured
it. Many coleopterists began
with these books and still hold
them in affection, even though
they’re long out of print and
superceded ages ago by newer
nomenclature, identification
keys and better photography.
Beetles of the British
Isles still give me a thrill
which is directly linked to
the experience of beetles
in the wild. The snooty
entomologist did help to put
me off collecting and I became
averse to the acquisitiveness,
the privilege of rarity and
the entitlement to take life
for gratification. Linssen’s
books helped teach me the
value of natural history in
all its diversity, humility and
wonder.
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