20,000 MILES FOR INSECTS

Greymouth Evening Star, 23 February 1937, Page 10

20,000 MILES FOR INSECTS

WOMAN IN NEW GUINEA

PLYMOUTH, December 30

When the Orient liner Orontes reaches London to-morrow, a woman who has spent nearly a year in remote parts of Dutch New Guinea, miles from the nearest white man or woman, will land again in England. She is Miss L. E. Cheesman, the entomologist, who has travelled 20,000 miles to collect 30,000 insects, reptiles and fish for the British Museum.

When the Orontes called at Plymouth to-day, she described how she set out on the expedition accompanied only by natives.

“The natives were at first a bit difficult,” she said. “They were not accustomed to working for a white woman but they settled down in due course. Another problem arose when I wanted to work in the Cyclops Mountains. The natives, who lived near the sea, were terrified of the mountains, and I had great difficulty in getting them to move inland.”

Miss Cheesman collected 26,000 insects, 500 reptiles, 300 fishes, and hundreds of scorpions, snails and worms. “About half of them are new specimens.” she said. “We cannot tell the value until they are classified and compared with the existing specimens. It will probably take 20 years to classify them all.”