I had my first experience of an afterhours Night Safari event at the Natural History Museum on 17th September. It was a first time outing for the crack girl team of myself, Pip Brewer (Curator of Fossil Mammals), Karolyn Shindler (Dorothea Bate's Biographer) and Miss Dorothea Bate (Palaeontologist and all round gem).

We were asked to provide a display of manuscript and published material with specimens to illustrate the talk being given by Karolyn as part of the evening events. It is always a pleasure to bring together the paper collections and scientific specimens, allowing Dorothea's story to be told in the best way, with original material created by her and discovered by her.

Right: Hellen Sharman and Karolyn Shindler

Below: Pip Brewer

What a great experience and throughout the evening we met and spoke to a lovely mix of people. Always a priviledge to talk about our collections and what we do in the Library & Archives.

Tonight sees the Museum's Night Safari Halloween Special where Lisa Di Tommaso, our Earth Sciences Assistant Librarian, will be offering up some of the Library's more spooky, mythical and Halloween-related holdings. Below are a selection of our weird and wonderful wonders!

Mythical monsters of the two and four-legged variety from Ulyssis Aldrovandi's Monstorium historia (1642).

A p-terrifying Pterosaur by Neave Parker (1910-1961)

Actaea pachypoda (also known as Doll's eyes	A not so scary orchid by William King (fl.1760s)

or White Baneberry) by William King (fl.1760s)

Ghosts of the fungal variety? Lycoperdon colifornize by Mary Turner (c.1800)	A black raven from John Gould's Introduction to the Birds of Great Britain (1862)