Subject
Re: Pyle & VN leps (fwd)
Date
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---------- Forwarded message ----------
Date: Mon, 7 Aug 1995 08:43:29 -0400 (EDT)
From: robert e dirig <red2@cornell.edu>
RE: Michael Juliar's inquiry about Robert Michael Pyle:
Bob Pyle is one of the best known American lepidopterists. In 1971 he
founded the Xerces Society, which is dedicated to the conservation of
terrestrial invertebrates (which translates as "butterflies" most of the
time). The Xerces Blue (Glaucopsyche xerces) flew on the beach at San
Francisco, and was the first documentedly extinct butterfly taxon in the
U.S., in the 1940s. Nabokov belonged to the Xerces Society, one of two
Lepidoptera-oriented groups with which he was affiliated. Pyle also has
authored HANDBOOK FOR BUTTERFLY WATCHERS and AUDUBON SOCIETY FIELD GUIDE TO
NORTH AMERICAN BUTTERFLIES, among several other books. I am happy to hear
that his new book on BIGFOOT is out; it should be good.
Bob Pyle has been a friend and colleague for 25 years. He
earned a Master's degree at the University of Washington, Seattle; his
project was a guide to the butterflies of Washington State (WATCHING
WASHINGTON BUTTERFLIES was the book that resulted from this, the first
in America to emphasize watching vs. collecting). His Ph.D. was done at
Yale with Charles Remington, co-founder of the Lepidopterists' Society (of
which Nabokov was a Charter Member). His project involved an ecological
analysis of Washington butterflies, as well as a worldwide review of
butterfly conservation efforts. Pyle spent some time in England, studying
their methods of butterfly conservation, as a Fulbright scholar during his
doctoral project. In the interim he has lived at Gray's River, Washington,
and works as a lecturer and writer in the field of natural history.
Regarding Bob's book on Nabokov: He visited me at Cornell in Oct.
1994, and we spent the day in the Cornell Insect Collection, at the
Archives, in the libraries, and on a hike around the areas where Nabokov
lived. We also met with Gavriel Shapiro and saw VN's office in the Arts
College. Bob's book will highlight VN's lepidoptery. It is to be
co-authored with Brian Boyd and Dmitri Nabokov, at least as originally
planned. Bob spent some time in the Berg Collection, New York Public
Library, VN archives, last year, going through all the correspondence,
etc. There may be unpublished VN material on butterflies that will finally
appear in this book. Bob has also been interviewing many veteran
lepidopterists who knew Nabokov, for first-person accounts of their
association with him. I was present while he interviewed J.G. Franclemont,
Emeritus Professor of Entomology at Cornell, and a world-famous
lepidopterist. JGF took Nabokov to a reserve near the campus in the
1950s, looking for a spring-flying butterfly. Afterwards, Nabokov invited
him in, and they had a drink together! Bob is interested in little
details like this that humanize the man.
I have not heard from Bob for several months, and do not know if these
plans have fallen through, but with all the research that he had completed
last fall, I doubt it. I am surprised the Nabokov estate seems not to know
about this, since Bob had a letter from Dmitri allowing him to view and copy
VN material.
I hope this information will be of interest. Pyle's view of
Nabokov as a lepidopterist should be enthralling.
Robert Dirig
Bailey Hortorium Herbarium
462 Mann Library
Cornell University
Ithaca NY 14853, USA
red2@cornell.edu
Date: Mon, 7 Aug 1995 08:43:29 -0400 (EDT)
From: robert e dirig <red2@cornell.edu>
RE: Michael Juliar's inquiry about Robert Michael Pyle:
Bob Pyle is one of the best known American lepidopterists. In 1971 he
founded the Xerces Society, which is dedicated to the conservation of
terrestrial invertebrates (which translates as "butterflies" most of the
time). The Xerces Blue (Glaucopsyche xerces) flew on the beach at San
Francisco, and was the first documentedly extinct butterfly taxon in the
U.S., in the 1940s. Nabokov belonged to the Xerces Society, one of two
Lepidoptera-oriented groups with which he was affiliated. Pyle also has
authored HANDBOOK FOR BUTTERFLY WATCHERS and AUDUBON SOCIETY FIELD GUIDE TO
NORTH AMERICAN BUTTERFLIES, among several other books. I am happy to hear
that his new book on BIGFOOT is out; it should be good.
Bob Pyle has been a friend and colleague for 25 years. He
earned a Master's degree at the University of Washington, Seattle; his
project was a guide to the butterflies of Washington State (WATCHING
WASHINGTON BUTTERFLIES was the book that resulted from this, the first
in America to emphasize watching vs. collecting). His Ph.D. was done at
Yale with Charles Remington, co-founder of the Lepidopterists' Society (of
which Nabokov was a Charter Member). His project involved an ecological
analysis of Washington butterflies, as well as a worldwide review of
butterfly conservation efforts. Pyle spent some time in England, studying
their methods of butterfly conservation, as a Fulbright scholar during his
doctoral project. In the interim he has lived at Gray's River, Washington,
and works as a lecturer and writer in the field of natural history.
Regarding Bob's book on Nabokov: He visited me at Cornell in Oct.
1994, and we spent the day in the Cornell Insect Collection, at the
Archives, in the libraries, and on a hike around the areas where Nabokov
lived. We also met with Gavriel Shapiro and saw VN's office in the Arts
College. Bob's book will highlight VN's lepidoptery. It is to be
co-authored with Brian Boyd and Dmitri Nabokov, at least as originally
planned. Bob spent some time in the Berg Collection, New York Public
Library, VN archives, last year, going through all the correspondence,
etc. There may be unpublished VN material on butterflies that will finally
appear in this book. Bob has also been interviewing many veteran
lepidopterists who knew Nabokov, for first-person accounts of their
association with him. I was present while he interviewed J.G. Franclemont,
Emeritus Professor of Entomology at Cornell, and a world-famous
lepidopterist. JGF took Nabokov to a reserve near the campus in the
1950s, looking for a spring-flying butterfly. Afterwards, Nabokov invited
him in, and they had a drink together! Bob is interested in little
details like this that humanize the man.
I have not heard from Bob for several months, and do not know if these
plans have fallen through, but with all the research that he had completed
last fall, I doubt it. I am surprised the Nabokov estate seems not to know
about this, since Bob had a letter from Dmitri allowing him to view and copy
VN material.
I hope this information will be of interest. Pyle's view of
Nabokov as a lepidopterist should be enthralling.
Robert Dirig
Bailey Hortorium Herbarium
462 Mann Library
Cornell University
Ithaca NY 14853, USA
red2@cornell.edu