Fire Flitter. Pyrausta aurata, Mint Moth, on Winter Savory, Satureja montana, Hortus Henricus Munting, Haren, Groningen, The Netherlands
Abraham Munting (1626-1683), indefatigable botanist of the University, writes about the medicinal value of Winter Savory that among other things 'it warms the innards' ('verwarmd de inwendige delen des Ligchaams'). And that's exactly what one needs in this extremely cold week in August. Apparently August 19 was the coldest one in 90 years, less than 16 C at midday in the centre of the country and no doubt rather colder up here.
But this morning, though chilly, was sunny and inviting enough to bike out to the Botanical Garden named after Abraham's father, Henricus Munting.
Here on Winter Savory in the Herbal Garden is Pyrausta aurata, Mint Moth. Why that great entomologist Giovanni Antonio Scopoli (1723-1788) called it Pyrausta, i.e. 'Fire-Singed', I don't know. He may very well have read the great Roman Naturalist Pliny who writes of a four-legged insect like a moth - a small flying dragon some have said - that inhabits the copper-smelting furnaces of Cyprus. And as a Latinist and transnational European, Scopoli may also have read the Adages of the pan-European and great humanist Desiderius Erasmus of Rotterdam (1466-1536). Erasmus uses Pyrausta as a metaphor of self-destructive humans: he himself - though not known as a great observer of nature - on a trip through the Alps had seen such a moth fly into the flames to self-immolation.
Scopoli possibly just needed a good name and chose this one when he saw our Moth glitter in the Sun like fiery gold. Hence, too, the specific designation 'aurata'.
Moth is hard to photograph because its sheen changes with even the slightest movement. This photo is just a bit shy of the really Golden Gleam it has in True Natural Life.
Fire Flitter. Pyrausta aurata, Mint Moth, on Winter Savory, Satureja montana, Hortus Henricus Munting, Haren, Groningen, The Netherlands
Abraham Munting (1626-1683), indefatigable botanist of the University, writes about the medicinal value of Winter Savory that among other things 'it warms the innards' ('verwarmd de inwendige delen des Ligchaams'). And that's exactly what one needs in this extremely cold week in August. Apparently August 19 was the coldest one in 90 years, less than 16 C at midday in the centre of the country and no doubt rather colder up here.
But this morning, though chilly, was sunny and inviting enough to bike out to the Botanical Garden named after Abraham's father, Henricus Munting.
Here on Winter Savory in the Herbal Garden is Pyrausta aurata, Mint Moth. Why that great entomologist Giovanni Antonio Scopoli (1723-1788) called it Pyrausta, i.e. 'Fire-Singed', I don't know. He may very well have read the great Roman Naturalist Pliny who writes of a four-legged insect like a moth - a small flying dragon some have said - that inhabits the copper-smelting furnaces of Cyprus. And as a Latinist and transnational European, Scopoli may also have read the Adages of the pan-European and great humanist Desiderius Erasmus of Rotterdam (1466-1536). Erasmus uses Pyrausta as a metaphor of self-destructive humans: he himself - though not known as a great observer of nature - on a trip through the Alps had seen such a moth fly into the flames to self-immolation.
Scopoli possibly just needed a good name and chose this one when he saw our Moth glitter in the Sun like fiery gold. Hence, too, the specific designation 'aurata'.
Moth is hard to photograph because its sheen changes with even the slightest movement. This photo is just a bit shy of the really Golden Gleam it has in True Natural Life.