Items of one’s past are apt to fade from exposure. They are like those richly pigmented butterflies and moths which the ignorant amateur hangs up in a display case on the wall of his sunny parlor and which, after a few years, are bleached to a pitiful drab hue. The metallic blue of so-called structural wing scales is hardier, but even so a wise collector should keep specimens in the dry dark of a cabinet.
Interview by James Mossman, BBC, 1969
Collected in Strong Opinions (1973)
Photo by laurensmith700: Butterfly Ghost (2008)
