butterfly Quiz

Forests of oyamel fir trees in Michoacán and Mexico States have for thousands of years been a winter haven for the resplendent orange and black butterflies, the most famous “charismatic megafauna” of the insect world, said Lincoln P. Brower, a professor emeritus of biology at Sweet Briar College in Virginia, who has studied the butterflies and their shrinking winter habitat for decades.

In 2001 Mr. Wilson received a MacArthur Foundation genius award for his array of curious and awe-inducing exhibitions, which include dioramas and special effects that bring old wives tales and folk remedies to life; letters written in the early 20th century to astronomers at the nearby Mount Wilson Observatory; a homage to three ethnologists who documented cats cradles; and a collection of decaying dice donated by the magician Ricky Jay. There are all manner of miniatures, among them micromosaics of flowers made by Henry Dalton from butterfly wing scales and human hair sculptures fashioned within the eyes of needles by Hagop Sandaljian.