Albert Stewart Meek

[nomad]

A photograph of A. S. Meek

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[wollastoni]

Thanks Peter, very interesting.
Didn't know that Eichhorn and Meek were brothers in law ! They both discovered many Delias species.

Just one correction, Goodenough island is on the east of New Guinea.

[nomad]

Hi Wollastoni

I am glad that you found the events of Meek's later life interesting. I see you mentioned Meek used old specimens of Delias as a lure to catch them. Have you or others used that method. For those who have not read the book, Meek had difficulty catching Delias specimens in New Guinea because they flew up and down steep creeks about 12 feet off the ground. He placed old specimens with wings outspread in the sun and says the others could not resist that.

Wishing you and all my fellow collectors a happy Xmas and New Year.

Peter.

[wollastoni]

Peter,

I told my "Delias" friends we should try this before I read Meek's book. Now that I have read it, we will definitely try this !

Olivier

[lepidofrance]

"Now that I have read it, we will definitely try this !"

Yes, but before 2 PM. Then no more Delias flying or mudd-puddling !



Photo : where Ornithoptera and Delias were passing through in Arfak mountains ...
interesting place !

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[wollastoni]

With such picture, you understand why Delias collectors have VERY long net !

[paulmeek]

I have just found your thread on Albert S Meek, he is my ancestor and we have been attempting to establish a personal history of his movements before arriving in Australia. I am also an Ecologist (Zoologist) so I have a particular interest in his life. I have just read his book and appreciated the link previously thanks. I was interested to find out where the photo above came from and if anyone has any snippets of information I would love to hear about it. Thanks Paul from Australia.

[steve]

Adam, thank you so much for putting up that link. I am now glued to the book, never having read it before. I wasn't aware even that he started in Australia which, for me as an Australian is great news.

[nomad]

Welcome to the forum Paul

It is great to meet a descendant of A. S. Meek. The early collectors of the Australian and Oriental regions have long held a fascination with me. Especially A.S. Meek who was one of the first collectors to penetrate into the interior of New Guinea. I first read Meek's book back in the 1970s and was enthralled by it.

The picture of A.S. Meek came from Bernard d, Abrera [2003] Birdwing Butterflies of the World. I have also seen this image elsewhere on the web. I am sorry, I no little of Meek's early life, but will let you if I can come across anything. I would appreciate if you can add to anything on Meek's later life [expeditions] or let me know if there are any discrepancies in what I have already written. Please post it on this thread or send me a private message. Thanks.

Kind Regards Peter

[Adam Cotton]

Nomad (Peter),

Somehow I think you meant 'descendant' rather than 'ancestor'. The ancestors of A. S. Meek were all long gone many years ago (no disrespect meant, Paul).

Welcome to Insectnet, Paul. It is indeed interesting to hear from one of Meek's descendants, we'd all be interested to hear about any information you can provide about your famous ancestor.

Happy New Year,
Adam.

[nomad]

Hi Adam

You are quite right. The post was written in haste. Thanks for pointing the error out. I have modified my post accordingly.


A very happy new year to you and everyone on this forum.

Peter.

[lepidofrance]

Many thanks ! (about the Tennent paper PDF on Meek)

I got the paper ! Thanks again !

[lepidofrance]

About Meek :

1. The butterflies (From Jacques P.'s box).

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[lepidofrance]

2. The label (from the same box)

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[nomad]

For those of you who have not seen it there is a very fine paper on the discovery of Ornithoptera alexandrae by John Tennent[2010]. It is called, ' The long Winged Troides "Discovery of the largest butterfly in the World", in Papua New Guinea by Albert Stewart Meek'. This paper gives fascinating details of the discovery which includes Meek's letters and drawing and specimens. The paper was published by the Linnean Society. John Tennent who kindly sent me the paper has given permission for me to share it with those who have a interest in Meek on the forum. However, before I can show the paper in full, it now appears I need the permission of the Linnean Society who hold the copyright and they will make their decision next week if I can post the article here.

Here is is a interesting extract from the paper = " Meek's correspondence contains a wealth of specific and general data concerning Meek's travels in the South-West Pacific and the very real difficulties and his contemporaries encountered travelling in the region at that time". A biography is in preparation". That is great news for me and all those with a genuine interest in Meek. John Tennent is just the man to write the book because he has followed in the footsteps and traditions of Meek. He has Explored the New Guinea islands and the Solomons. Here John Tennent has been discovering new species and sub-species. I for one cannot wait for its publication.

Those glorious specimens shown in Jacques box [ ] bred and spread by Meek show his very fine style by having the fore-wings very high up which was very unusual for the time. I believe this greatly adds to the appearance of the specimens of those who are lucky enough to own them. What I did not know is that Meek gave his finest eight specimens of O.alexandrae to Walter Rothschild but bred another 49 pairs to distribute to dealers, hence Jacques pair.

A few words would be appropriate about John Tennent. As many will know he is the author of the astounding ' Butterflies of the Solomon Islands [2002] and Butterflies of Vanuata [2009]. In 2010 he undertook a major expedition to the islands east of Milne Bay, Papua New Guinea, visiting many unexplored Islands and finding a wealth of new butterflies. Because of his unorthodox style he has been called the renegade Entomologist but is without doubt a great field worker. His quest for knowledge in the field of Entomology is ever great.

nomad [peter.]