Here we have an actual Atlas Moth, part of the Saturniidae family, which consists of about two thousand three hundred known species. They tend to be large, but not as large as our moth, and all have heavy and often hairy bodies, though in actual fact the covering is scales, not individual hairs. They also have much smaller mouths. And there is also something else important because they have two separate wings on each side of their bodies, a front and a back, though they have evolved with time, bringing the rear wings up over the edge of the front ones in order to make this weak spot harder for predators to see.
There is also a connection with our card from Monday, because the Atlas moth was actually named (by Carl Linnaeus, in 1758) after Atlas the mythological Titan, simply because both were exceptionally large.
This will be the home page for the many printings of this set, which includes double cards and stickers, as well as an Irish issue - eight printings in all.
The set first appears in our original British Trade Index part three, which I used to find quite unreadable, but has become much easier with the arrival of my new glasses. So I can rattle through the fact that it reads :
- Incredible Creatures. Nd. (40). Issued 1985. ... BRM-50
A. Back in brown. Last line of address at base
(a) "Walton-on-Thames, Surrey...."
(b) "Sheen Lane, London".
Also issued in joined pairs
B. Back in green, address at base "Dublin, 18"
Now this volume was prepared at the end of 1985 and published in 1986, so we can excuse the fact that the above information is inaccurate. But it was not even partially corrected in a reference book until our original British Trade Index part four, which omits any mention of the set title and simply has the following entry :
- BRM-50.A (a) There are two editions of the "Walton-on-Thames" issue, with last line of text
A. "P.O. Box 86, "Walton-on-Thames, Sussey [sic], KT12 1AB"
B, "Walton-on-Thames, Surrey, KT12 1AB"
Nowhere does this mention that the order of issue was actually
- single cards - Sheen Lane address (1985)
- double cards - Sheen Lane address (1985)
- single cards - Walton on Thames address, with "Picture Card Dept" (1986)
- double cards - Walton on Thames address, with "Picture Card Dept" (1986)
- single cards - Walton on Thames address, with 'Dept IC' (1986)
- single stickers - Walton on Thames address, with 'Dept IC' (1986)
- double cards - Walton on Thames address, with 'Dept IC' (1986)
- single cards - green back, issued in Ireland
There was no album issued for this set either, only a set of four wallcharts, each with spaces for ten cards. They were named "Under the Ground" (for cards 1-10), "In the Sea" (for cards 11-20), "On the Land" (for cards 21-30) and "In the Air" (for the final ten, cards 31-40).