Text on print reads:
A drawer
of parasitic wasps, mostly from New South Wales and Cuba,
from the
William Sharp Macleay (1792-1865) collection, Macleay Museum, Sydney
Australia
Photograph by Keith Lo Bue
Perhaps my single favorite object from the Macleay Museum collection,
this forest of needles
speaks volumes about humankind's complusion to order the world. These
tiny wasps are so small
that they couldn't be pinned, but are instead glued to small chips of
paper with the
legend "NSW" or CUBA". These labels are then pinned to the drawer.
W.S.
Macleay (museum founder Alexander's son)collected these in his travels.
Standing over this drawer of specimens is akin to craning one's neck
from an airplane window,
marvelling at the tree- and city-scapes below.
For more information on the Macleay and my involvement with the collection,
click here.