BR. J. ENT. NAT. HIST., 7: 1994 



THE TORSTENIUS COLLECTION OF 

 SCANDINAVIAN LEPIDOPTERA 



C. B. ASHBYf 

 31 Tudor Close, Cheam, Sutton, Surrey SM3 8QT. 



In parts of Scandinavia the western extension of the great European and Eurasian 

 coniferous forest, the taiga, is the dominant habitat. Swamps, lakes, rivers and river 

 deltas add diversity to these tall, dark forests of the north temperate zone. Travel 

 northwards and you find the pines and spruces giving way to birch which, unlike 

 elsewhere in Europe, forms the tree-line on the northern mountains. Beyond lies the 

 treeless tundra and the Arctic Sea. Travel westwards across the rocky spine which 

 separates Sweden from Norway to find the high altitude wilderness areas of the 

 Dovrefjell, Jutonheimen and Hardangervidda. Travel eastwards to the shores of 

 the land-locked Gulf of Bothnia and south to the Baltic and its thousands of islands, 

 of which the largest are Oland and Gotland. The pastoral lowlands of Denmark 

 and Skane in Sweden are notable for their coastlines, lakes and marshes but give 

 no hint of the vast areas of wild country and low population to which they 

 give access. 



Within the easily accessible literature, the diversity of butterflies in Scandinavia has 

 been most ably presented by Howard and others in six papers in The Entomologist's 

 Record between 1964 and 1976. The English translation of Henriksen and Kreutzer's 

 useful book (1982) provides a comprehensive text and a wealth of coloured illustrations 

 of the life histories and habitats of the Scandinavian butterflies. Kruys (1991) has 

 given an account of the butterflies of Ostergotland, one of the southern counties of 

 Sweden, with notes of the habitat. The moths are well served for English readers 

 by Skou's illustrated work (1986) on the Geometridae of Europe, and it is to be hoped 

 that an English edition of his recent (1991) volume on the Noctuidae will follow soon. 

 Kettlewell (1973) discussed in Chapter 6 of The evolution of melanism certain aspects 

 of non-industrial melanism as illustrated by moths in Scandinavia, quoting numerous 

 examples. Dr E. B. Ford, in his book Moths in the New Naturalist series (1955) 

 has a valuable chapter on relict species and arctic-alpine faunas and refers to, among 

 others, the three Anarta species which frequent the northern mountains and moorlands 

 of Britain and Scandinavia. In Lappland, as Dr Guy Howard has pointed out (1969). 

 the number of Anarta and closely related species rises to 13. Northern Scandinavia 

 having much in common with northern Asia and North America at these latitudes, 

 it is very likely that a significant number of its moths and butterflies could be show a 

 to have a circumpolar distribution. Scandinavia, with its friendly, helpful people and 

 its enormous range of habitats through 15 degrees of latitude, has much to offer the 

 visiting naturalist. 



When in Stockholm in June 1977, I had the good fortune to be introduced to 

 Bankjuristen Stig Torstenius, a member of this Society and one of the leading 

 lepidopterists in Sweden. I was invited to his home in Stocksund and spent an 

 unforgettable evening going through what must be one of the major European 

 collections of Lepidoptera in private hands. I came away with an astonishing offer: 

 if the Society would accept it, Stig Torstenius would provide the material for a 

 representative collection of Scandinavian macrolepidoptera, to be held at the Society's 

 rooms, then at South Audley Street. 



tDeceased. 



