Subject: Re: Displaying moths -- help wanted

From: Kenelm Philip <[email-masked]>
Date: Mon, 2 Dec 1996 23:11:00 -0900

>Irredescent colors fade the fastest, along with greens.

        It was my understanding that iridescent colors are _structural_,
rather than being caused by pigments--and are actually caused by fine
striations on the scales acting as diffraction gratings. I would expect
that true iridescent colors would not be affected by exposure to light,
as long as the scale walls themselves are intact.

                                                        Ken Philip
[email-masked]

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From: Thomas L Orourke <[email-masked]>
Date: Thu, 5 Dec 1996 11:30:03 -0500

In a message dated 96-12-05 11:22:27 EST, you write:

<<
 > If moths and butterflies are on permanent display in a glass topped
 > case, is there any chance of the colours fading? >>
MY DISTINCT UNDERSTANDING FROM RECENT REPLIES ON THIS NETWORK
IS A RESOUNDING YES.I AM STARTING AN EXPERIMENT TO SPECIFICALLY TEST
THIS,USING SPECIMENS CAUGHT AT IDENTICAL TIMES AND OF DIFFERENT
COLOR,SPECIES,ETC.i WILL REPORT THIS TO LEP SOC AND THIS ADDRESS AS IT
PROGRESSES AND IS COMPLETED.HOPEFULLY THIS WILL AID IN BETTER
PRESERVATION,AESTHETICS,AND PRESUMABLY LESS REHARVESTING .

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From: Chris Conlan <[email-masked]>
Date: Thu, 5 Dec 1996 18:32:54 -0800

To give you an idea of how fast light can fade some moths let me recall the
story of my first luna moth (Actias luna).  When I was a small child some
friends of my parents had captured a luna moth at their porch in the
Berkshire Mountains of Massachusetts.  They gave it to me (pinned to a
small pillow) one weekend when my parents were visiting.  It was my first
luna and I was very excited as well as paranoid that my little sister would
break it during the long car ride back home.  My father decided to place it
up in the back window of the car where my sister was least likely to get at
it.  Well, by the time the 5 hour car ride (during the middle of the day)
was over I had an albino luna moth!  Not a trace of green left on the
thing.  (I think I probably blamed my sister!)
Chris
[email-masked]