Raphael Meldola: the Essex Field Club papers at Imperial College
Further to this can be listed the names of pure enthusiasts as well as other scientific notables, names
such as Alice Balfour,20; GS. Boulger1. A.G Butler22, W. L. Distent23. J. Evershed24, L.V. Fletcher25,
Frederick J. Hanbury26, E.M. Holmes27, AJ. Jukes Browne28, GB. Longstaff29, J.M.B. Taylor30,
Lord Warwick,31 August Weissmann.32
There are also a number of letters from Fritz Muller33. However, the majority are in German, a
language Meldola had taught himself, and at present these remain untranslated.
Entomological Correspondence: Alice Balfour
As mentioned above, Alice Balfour and Meldola were in correspondence, the letters here cover the
period c.1908 - 1911. Taking a closer look at the letters will illustrate in more depth the actual
content of the collection and hopefully give a flavour of the variety of information that may be
found.
In the biography of Arthur James Balfour by Kenneth Young, Alice is described as thorough and
with an obsession for detail, "Alice Balfour also has a mania for checking the number of spoons,
forks and other cutlery"34. This thoroughness was also applied to her love of natural history and
moth collecting. Her correspondence with Meldola is almost exclusively about the subject. The
letters contain lists of her latest finds and details of where she caught them35 and she is often in
pursuit of confirmation of her identifications. Her letter of August 191136 states "Also I have got
one specimen of what I believe to be Nephopteryx abietella37 - This is also new to my collection,
and 1 don't know of its having been captured by anyone else in the country'. Again in a letter of
c. 190838 she writes saying she has captured a moth she has never seen before, possibly the Luperina
cespitis39, which she describes and even sketches, but fears that "Probably you will identify it as
something quite common!"
As well as new discoveries the letters serve as a record of changes in the local moth population.
Around 1910 she comments that the Large Elephant Hawkmoth is no longer to be seen and mentions
that she has been in correspondence with Sir Archibald Hepburn on the matter.40 "I heard from Sir
A.Hepburn a few days ago. He says he has not seen the Large Elephant Hawkmoth for a good many
years and only has 2 specimens from here. The small one more abundant some years ago at
honeysuckle". Little over a year later it is Alice's general observation to Meldola that the number
of moths seems to be down.41
This last letter also gives a sense of the friendship that existed between Meldola and the Balfour
family as she thanks him for his letter on her brother's retirement and comments on his battling
against the government on Home Rule.
It would appear that where she had been unable to find suitable examples for her collection, Meldola
had thoughtfully supplied her with boxes of specimens. Poulton, one of Meldola's biographers,
summaries the relationship thus "For many years he [Meldolal had regularly gone to Scotland, in
1910 and 1912 to Haddingtonshire, where Miss Balfour is forming a collection of the local species.
The interest in common with another naturalist in the field, and later on in the study and comparison
of specimens, was a great pleasure to him"42.
Essex Naturalist (New Series) 21 (2004)
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