Journeys
The expeditions, reassembled
Every dated label is a diary entry. Read a collector’s labels in order and the voyage comes back: the islands in sequence, the days at each, the specimens from every stop. 7 journeys so far, 1961 to 1979, 1,448 specimens between them.
5 collectors and expeditions188 days in the field54,707 km between stops933 photographed specimens
7 journeys match
Maxwell S. Doty
16 islands · Aug – Dec 1971
Maxwell S. Doty across 16 islands, August – December 1971737 specimens · 34 stops · 101 days · 25,154 km
Harold St.John
17 islands · Jun 1961 – Jan 1962
Harold St.John across 17 islands, June 1961 – January 1962294 specimens · 62 stops · 214 days · 4,975 km
Benjamin C. Stone
7 islands · Dec 1967 – Apr 1968
Benjamin C. Stone across 7 islands, December 1967 – April 196895 specimens · 22 stops · 121 days · 1,715 km
Gerald R. Allen
9 islands · Feb – Apr 1979
Gerald R. Allen across 9 islands, February – April 1979163 specimens · 18 stops · 73 days · 5,891 km
Maxwell S. Doty
6 islands · Nov 1975 – Mar 1976
Maxwell S. Doty across 6 islands, November 1975 – March 197661 specimens · 13 stops · 131 days · 16,972 km
F. Raymond Fosberg
Sri Lanka and Mauritius · Oct – Dec 1970
F. Raymond Fosberg in Sri Lanka and Mauritius, October – December 197056 specimens · 15 stops · 48 days
Harold St.John
Reunion and Direction Island · Jan – Mar 1961
Harold St.John in Reunion and Direction Island, January – March 196142 specimens · 12 stops · 54 days
How a journey is found
Every specimen with a full date and a known collector is a diary entry. The days are read in order; a gap of more than three weeks ends one journey and starts the next. Days spent where a collector lived most of their life are home, not travel, and are left out.
A journey needs at least five days, forty specimens and two places. Within it, a run of days spent within about ten kilometres is one stop; the stop’s point is the middle of the labels that carry coordinates, or the island’s centre when none do.
Companions are the people whose own labels put them in the same place on the same days. Staff can name a journey, write about it and feature it; everything else here is read straight off the specimens, and is rebuilt as the records improve.
