Violet Moths

Violet moths? said Pliny the Elder, sceptically. I have never heard of them.

Perhaps they were butterflies, I said.

Violet butterflies! scoffed Pliny.

Perhaps they weren't violet. They wouldn't keep still.

Pliny was already googling violet moths.

Well, I never, he said. Dame's Violet Moth, or Plutella Porectella, named by Linnaeus himself. Let's see if there's a photograph.

Is there? I looked over his shoulder. Oh yes, there is!

But Plutella Porectella was the colour of bug-infested oatmeal and had long ragged wings.

That's not what Hallam saw, I said firmly.

Hallam, Hallam, said Pliny. What was that all about?

Just introducing a bit of history, I said. Didn't you like it?

Very confusing, said Pliny, especially when he turned into a lady.

He didn't turn into a lady, I said. He thought he was catching up with a man who might have been himself. But it wasn't a man, so he wasn't.

Give me the simple life, said Pliny.