19th-century photograph of Dexter Hall (prior to 1875 when tower was added at rear corner) [Vintage print, same image as Sturgis copy, hs8600]

This house scan exists in 3 versions, sharing same hs# with suffix "1of3," "2of3," or "3of3." The first is the best rendering of the image. 2 and 3 are scans of the entire image plus mount, for the best rendering of the penciled inscriptions in the margins....

Monarchs in Australia: On the winds of a storm?

The monarch butterfly, Danaus plexippus, is one of Australia's best-known exotic butterflies, being first recorded here in the spring/summer of 1870/1871. However, the source of the original population is unknown. Using historical records we suggest that the most likely source of the founder population was from Vanuatu and/or New Caledonia. Many almost simultaneous 'first records' for the butterfly in Australia suggest that a large, well-distributed population was present when first noticed. While such a population may have developed from a limited number of individuals flying across the Coral Sea, the well documented, very dramatic appearance of large monarch populations in Australia does not appear to fit this model. Rather, we hypothesise that large numbers of monarchs were carried to Australia on cyclonic winds: no fewer that 3 cyclones hit the Queensland coast in early 1870. If one or more of these cyclones tracked from the Vanuatu/New Caledonia chain, then they may have transported monarchs. Once established on the central/northern Queensland coast, natural migration would account for the appearance of butterflies further south.