Bishop MuseumExplore

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. 15 journeys so far, 1922 to 1988, 7,044 specimens between them.

14 collectors and expeditions478 days in the field88,054 km between stops3,875 photographed specimens

Pacific Entomological Survey

6 islands of French Polynesia · May 1930 – Jan 1931

Pacific Entomological Survey, May 1930 – January 1931

797 specimens · 34 stops · 228 days · 8,102 km

Edward Philpott Mumford

8 islands of French Polynesia · Aug – Dec 1929

Edward Philpott Mumford across 8 islands of French Polynesia, August – December 1929

774 specimens · 26 stops · 140 days · 795 km

Alastair M. Adamson

9 islands of French Polynesia · Aug – Dec 1929

Alastair M. Adamson across 9 islands of French Polynesia, August – December 1929

765 specimens · 27 stops · 140 days · 759 km

Ernest H. Quayle

25 islands · Jun – Nov 1922

Ernest H. Quayle across 25 islands, June – November 1922

642 specimens · 56 stops · 162 days · 7,539 km

Steven Perlman

7 islands · May – Aug 1988

Steven Perlman across 7 islands, May – August 1988

739 specimens · 31 stops · 95 days · 11,103 km

Wood Jones

22 islands · Jul – Dec 1922

Wood Jones across 22 islands, July – December 1922

478 specimens · 45 stops · 142 days · 3,823 km

Jacques Florence

8 islands of French Polynesia · Jun – Aug 1988

Jacques Florence across 8 islands of French Polynesia, June – August 1988

627 specimens · 15 stops · 60 days · 8,617 km

Betsy H. Gagne

11 islands · Jun – Sep 1977

Betsy H. Gagne across 11 islands, June – September 1977

480 specimens · 22 stops · 84 days · 12,628 km

Warren L. Wagner Jr.

7 islands · Jun – Aug 1988

Warren L. Wagner Jr. across 7 islands, June – August 1988

536 specimens · 19 stops · 59 days · 10,062 km

David H. Lorence

6 islands · Jun – Aug 1988

David H. Lorence across 6 islands, June – August 1988

538 specimens · 18 stops · 37 days · 9,578 km

Pacific Entomological Survey

4 islands of French Polynesia · Feb – Apr 1931

Pacific Entomological Survey, February – April 1931

378 specimens · 7 stops · 89 days · 322 km

Hessler Brown

13 islands of French Polynesia · Aug – Dec 1922

Hessler Brown across 13 islands of French Polynesia, August – December 1922

74 specimens · 29 stops · 137 days · 9,305 km

B.G. Decker

5 islands of French Polynesia · Jan – Apr 1960

B.G. Decker across 5 islands of French Polynesia, January – April 1960

69 specimens · 12 stops · 67 days · 865 km

M. Teikiteetini

4 islands of French Polynesia · Jul – Aug 1988

M. Teikiteetini across 4 islands of French Polynesia, July – August 1988

102 specimens · 3 stops · 30 days · 195 km

Steven L. Montgomery

7 islands of French Polynesia · Jul – Sep 1977

Steven L. Montgomery across 7 islands of French Polynesia, July – September 1977

45 specimens · 12 stops · 71 days · 4,361 km

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.