The Butterflies And Beetles Behind Evolution

Nov. 25, 2009 | Christopher Joyce | National Public Radio

Alfred Russel Wallace was Darwin's colleague, a globe-trotting naturalist who helped shape the theory of evolution. Thirty years ago, a Washington lawyer slipped into an Arlington antique store and bought a magnificent rosewood cabinet. It turned out it was once owned by Wallace, and contained his personal collection of 1600 butterflies and insects.

Alfred Russel Wallace was a globe-trotting British naturalist who, in the mid-1800s, got the idea that living things evolve and diversify by passing on valuable traits to their offspring. Charles Darwin had the same idea and crafted his theory of evolution. Though their theories were originally presented jointly, Darwin's name went down in history, and Wallace got a pat on the back.

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Fortune and fame eluded Wallace during his lifetime as well, says David Grimaldi of the American Museum of Natural History.

"He had to really support himself by collecting specimens and selling them to museums and that supported him when he was in the field in Brazil and Indonesia and Malaysia," he says. "But he kept some of the specimens aside for himself. Beautiful specimens."

Wallace kept his personal collection — iridescent butterflies, enormous moths, seashells and hundreds of beetles — in a 24-drawer, rosewood cabinet of his own design.

It's unclear what became of the cabinet for many years. Then, in 1979, a young lawyer named Robert Heggestad wandered into a modest antique shop in Arlington, Va., looking for Chinese carpets.

"And I saw this beautiful cabinet behind the counter and asked if it was for sale," says Heggestad. The dealer said it was for sale for $600, and urged Heggestad to see what was inside.

"He described it as belonging to Alfred Russel Wallace and I of course had never heard of Alfred Russel Wallace," says Heggestad.

Nonetheless, he bought the cabinet on a payment plan: $100 a month for six months.

"And then I kind of lost interest and over the years basically used it as a show and tell case, you know, at parties."

But eventually Heggestad read enough about Wallace to get drawn in. He realized the cabinet's value to the history of science. So this week, it goes on display at the museum in New York. Now, amateur scientists and the curious public alike will be able to view some of the creatures that sparked one of the most revolutionary theories in science.

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