This insect drawer, arranged exclusively for the ECSITE Annual Conference in 2008, contains and shows just a small sample of the beauty and diversity of butterflies (Lepidoptera) of the Earth. This is also just a small selection from the Lepidoptera collection of the Museum. The earliest specimens originate from the 18th Century (Tobias Coy), and all continents are represented among the 1.5 million specimens preserved in this collection. The museum keeps some 7 million insects (among them 3 million beetles), and altogether 10 million natural history specimens.

Many of the specimens in the museum have never been exhibited. The waste collections of too small, not characteristic, from exhibition point of view uninteresting specimens (though possibly with great scientific value) are kept in storages. The museum exhibits some of it’s specimens, and lends or rents all for any reasons interesting specimens to partners, if all the necessary precautions (safety, physical conditions) are provided. In case of interest please turn to the staff of the museum (www.nhmus.hu).

The title photo shows another sample shown in an earlier temporary taxonomy exhibition of the Open Society Archive, Budapest.