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. 9 journeys so far, 1921 to 1967, 3,336 specimens between them.

7 collectors and expeditions276 days in the field29,973 km between stops2,501 photographed specimens

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

Wood Jones

22 islands · Jul – Dec 1922

Wood Jones across 22 islands, July – December 1922

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

Ernest H. Quayle

5 islands of French Polynesia · Sep – Nov 1921

Ernest H. Quayle across 5 islands of French Polynesia, September – November 1921

271 specimens · 29 stops · 78 days · 4,525 km

Pacific Entomological Survey

Ua Pou and Hiva Oa · Oct – Dec 1931

Pacific Entomological Survey, October – December 1931

233 specimens · 2 stops · 36 days · 125 km

Whitney Expedition

12 islands of French Polynesia · Jun – Sep 1922

Whitney Expedition, June – September 1922

63 specimens · 16 stops · 86 days · 4,274 km

Dennis M. Devaney

16 islands · Sep – Oct 1967

Dennis M. Devaney across 16 islands, September – October 1967

50 specimens · 18 stops · 56 days · 7,816 km

Pacific Entomological Survey

Hiva Oa and Ua Pou · Dec 1931 – Jan 1932

Pacific Entomological Survey, December 1931 – January 1932

60 specimens · 4 stops · 31 days · 317 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.