D.B.Johnson wrote:"Although no explicit mention is made of a butterfly, astute commentators such as Dieter Zimmer correctly identify the tie pattern & colors as those of the ill-omened Red Admiral. What belatedly struck me today is that the Russian word for butterfly is "bAbochka" which in Russian (as in English)  is the word for a "bow tie" which, of course, nicely resembles a butterfly. The implicit word play is not quite ideal since Gradus' tie is clearly not a bow tie since it is tucked into his shirt front.)". 
Jansy:Last year, unaware that D.Zimmer had already made this point clear, I brought the same point up at the list, including images of ties, I later found out were unnessary since my supposition found its  confirmation right at PF's index, under Vanessa, the Red Admirable (sumpsimus): ...caricatured, 949.
 
In January 1, 2007 another question about Gradus' tie arose in a posting: "At the end of PF we find Gradus wearing a "red admirable" tie (its dark underside wing and its red bend sinister stripe), beside the actual butterfly. Multiple butterflies: real, unreal, imaginary, allegorical? Why would Gradus be wearing such a tie? What is his relation to Kinbote and...Hazel?"
Nobody answered it but the mistery remains, at least for me: why would Gradus wear a Red Vanessa tie? 

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