(a species of owlet moth (Noctuid)) Some caterpillars, after they emerge from their egg, can increase their weight by 25,000 times.

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Reeves watercolours

Browse a selection of exquisite watercolours from the collection of over 2,000 natural history paintings commissioned by John Reeves while he was stationed as a tea inspector in Canton, now Guangzhou, in China.

A keen amateur naturalist, Reeves employed local Chinese artists to paint plants and animals collected from China and across Asia. He shipped the watercolours along with many specimens back to patrons, horticultural societies and botanic gardens in the UK.