April, 2025

If you don’t have enough hours in the day to collect insects, then how about suggesting that the clocks be adjusted to allow more daylight hours. As we turn our clocks back from summertime, we might remember that one of New Zealand’s finest entomologists, George Hudson, was also one of the first to suggest daylight saving.

Hudson was a passionate insect collector, amassing the largest collection in the country and publishing seven classic books on New Zealand insects. But he also took an interest in astronomy and in 1895 in a scientific paper, suggested that we use seasonal time adjustment to align daylight and working hours. It wasn’t until 1927, however, that New Zealand first moved the clocks to provide an extra hour of sunshine. This was discontinued after the war but later revived in 1975.

We have copies of two of Hudson’s finest works for sale. With brilliantly coloured plates, both are sought-after classics of New Zealand’s unique natural history.  Another group of brilliant butterfly images can be found in a beautifully bound Victorian album.