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Description: | Vertebrate collections
Mainly birds and mammals originally displayed and stored at the Curtis Museum, Alton, but also reptiles, amphibians and fish although the collection are small and underrepresented and mostly preserved in spirit or as cast skins, especially reptiles. Many mammals collected by the Crowley family, with links to the Curtis Museum. The best specimens examples of taxidermy by Edward Hart of Christchurch, Dorset, William Chalkley of Winchester, Peter Spicer of Leamington Spa , Rowland Ward and John Gould of London. There are 1,070 bird specimens cased and un-cased and 160 skins and some stored in alcohol and 2470 clutches of birds eggs, representing 266 species of mainly British birds;).
The skeletal collection is growing with 400 skulls (250 bird and 150 mammal) and a small collection of trophies and skeletons. Oddities include Hayling Island Swamp Cat, Felis chaus, a species normally found from Lower Egypt, through the Middle East, to most of Asia, was killed on Hayling Island in July 1988; reported sightings suggest that there may one animal still at large. Also a Hoopoe, Upupa epops, rarely seen in Britain but turned up in Romsey, Hampshire, in November 1993 and died.
The Dodo, Raphus cucullatus, bones in the collection include a breast bone, a pelvic girdle and various leg and wing bones which came from more than one bird retrieved from a marsh on Mauritius by George Clark who presented them to William Curtis, in 1867.
Invertebrates include 1,150 fluid-preserved British spiders with collected mainly by I Blair-Brown, M Charig and S J Moore; the British insect collection is based on the individual collections of K G Blair, C H Dixon, S J Grove, P Holloway, I R Hudson, J F Marshall, E Neal, G B Prior, H D Swain and others includes the individual beetle collections of S J Grove, D H Murray, F C Stanley and K G Blair collection with 10,000+ specimens collected by many other collectors including L F Barton, W S Bristowe, G C Champion, Miss L E Cheeseman, O G Heath, W E China, H D Donisthorpe, R W Lloyd, A M Massee, R Spittle, C E Stott, J R Tomlin, A R Waterston and J R E Wright. Diptera Collection includes hoverflies, horseflies, soldierflies, robberflies, craneflies and many other groups collected by K G Blair, J P Brazenor, C D Day, S J Grove, I R Hudson, J F Marshall and C J Palmer inparticular the last specimen of Choerades gilvus (robberfly) and one of only two Scaeva albomaculata (hoverfly) to be seen in Britain and specimens and equipment from John Marshall's British Mosquito Control Institute on Hayling Island, Hampshire (1925 - c1939); Hymenoptera includes the ants, bees, wasps, sawflies, ichneumon flies and their allies collected by K G Blair, C D Day, M Edwards, I R Hudson and H D Swain. Lepidoptera has 28,000 specimens of British and European butterflies and British moths collected by K G Blair (butterflies & moths), J M Clark (butterflies), C H Dixon (moths), B Elliott (moths), D Ffennell (butterflies), B Goater (moths), P Holloway (butterflies & moths), J R Langmaid (moths), R B Robertson (moths), E Neal (butterflies & moths) D O'Keeffe (moths) and G B Prior (butterflies). K G Blair (1882-1952) was a well respected entomologist who has three species of moth named after him in Britain, Blair's mocha (Cyclophora puppillaria), Blair's wainscot (Sedina buettneri) and Blair's shoulder-knot (Lithophane leautieri). Biographical details for K G Blair are available in the 'Biographical Dictionary' at www.coleopterist.org.uk
There are 6800 shells, mainly foreign, but some British, representing nearly 1500 species of mainly marine and freshwater gastropods and bivalves. A relatively small collection of mostly spirit preserved British marine, freshwater and terrestrial invertebrates. Crustaceans (crabs & shrimps), echinoderms (sea urchins & starfish), myriapods (centipedes & millipedes), coelenterates (sea anemonies, corals, hydroids & jellyfish), tunicates (sea squirts) and annelids (worms) are all represented and collected by museum staff. There is the R Wells collection of marine invertebrates. | Source: | Cornucopia - Discovering UK Collections | Address: | and Allen Gallery
High Street and Church Street Alton Hampshire United Kingdom,
GU34 1BA | FAX: | 01420 84227 | Telephone: | 01420 82802 | Identifier: | oai:www.cornucopia.org.uk:4846 | Go to resource |
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