Find something on display: Colour and Camouflage

Abalone has a beautiful iridescence when polished, so has been used by people for many decorative purposes, including fish hooks you can see in the Heroes and Villains showcase in the Explorers and Collectors room.

Cut and polished into an oval shape.

White and brown banded agate with clear crystalline quartz in the centre.

Amber is fossilized tree sap. Its ability to trap and perfectly preserve insects was made famous by the film Jurassic Park, where dinosaurs were cloned using DNA from the blood of mosquitoes trapped in amber.

A silicate mineral from Bohemia

Aragonite is one of the two common forms of calcium carbonate, forming naturally in almost all mollusc shells.

Atacamite is an unusual and attractive mineral. It forms in arid climates where copper minerals are exposed to oxidation- the Atacama Dessert in Chile, after which the mineral was named, is one of the driest places in the world.

Used as a pigment by artists.

Used as a pigment by artists.

Barite is a common mineral whose name derives from Greek and translates as ‘heavy’. Among one of its most useful functions is to block x-ray emissions and it therefore features in hospital and laboratory buildings as well as power plants.

This member of the crow family has a mastery of flight, often performing wonderful aerial displays of diving and swooping.

From the Beltinge fish bed near Herne Bay, Palaeocene in age. Around 55 million years old.

From the East Indies

Quartz comes in virtually all the colours of the rainbow, depending on where it was formed and therefore the different trace elements it may contain. Black varieties are formed in volcanoes.

Glows purple under ultraviolet light.

Fossil shark’s teeth come in a variety of colours due to the different mineral compositions of the rocks they are found in. Look for the black and white and teeth in the rest of the display.

Takes its name from the French for this rock, Bleu jaune (blue yellow).

Cut and polished breccia with translucent blue clasts.

Butterflies often use mimicry-a kind of camouflage to hide from predators.

A horsetail much like those found alive today but much bigger.

An artificially produced mineral with a brilliant shiny blue sheen.

Chalcedony is another mineral robustly used in making bracelets, necklaces, earrings and costume jewellery. Its common varieties, such as agate, carnelian, chrysoprase or moss agate, are part of this display and demonstrate the richness of colour and texture of the mineral.

Chalcopyrite is the principal ore of copper. Like Pyrite it has often been mistaken for gold. It is a brassy yellow-coloured metal and occurs in similar contexts to gold.

This is an adult colubrid snake preserved in alcohol. Colubrids are part of the largest family of snakes called Colubridae, and can be found on every continent except Antarctica. Their main characteristics include: few head scales, a smaller left lung, and no teeth at the tip of their mouth. Because of this they have a loose facial structure.

(see previous entries of colubrid snake)

Also known as the Banded kukri snake, this type of colubrid snake is nonvenomous and found in Sri Lanka, India, Bangladesh, Pakistan, Bhutan and Nepal.

From Rye in East Sussex

Cuttlefish are molluscs. They are similar to squids, octopuses, and nautiluses. Cuttlefish have a unique internal shell, the cuttlebone, which they use to control their buoyancy. They have W-shaped pupils, eight arms, and two tentacles. Of all invertebrates, they also have the largest brain in relation to their body size.

Dog whelks are sea snails found commonly on the shores of the UK. They lay their eggs in small yellowish capsules which can be spotted under rocks and rocky overhangs in tidal waters. Each capsule contains up to a thousand eggs.

Vivid green and an orangey-yellow. The Male quetzal can be seen displaying to the female above.

Fluorite occurs in a range of different colours. This example is pale yellow.

Fluorite occurs in a range of different colours. This example is pale yellow

Glows purple under ultraviolet light.

Glows purple under ultraviolet light.

The iron sulphide Pyrite has often been mistaken for gold. It is a brassy yellow-coloured metal and occurs in similar contexts to gold. Because of its cubic molecular structure it forms near perfect cubes as a crystal.

Palaeoniscus frieslebeni from the Permian age copper shales of Eisleben, Germany.

These have been exploited for pearls in the past.

Gold is one of the most sought-after metals, not only for its beauty but also for its usefulness in the production of many things, including computers. In fact there is a very small amount of gold in your mobile phone! Gold is chemically very inert, so does not corrode like other metals and remains in the same state for countless millennia. There are examples of gold jewellery nearby in the Explorers and Collectors room.

This large bird is normally a winter visitor to our shores and breeds in Iceland.

This ammonite comes from the Lower Greensand, a Cretaceous age rock. The green in greensand comes from the mineral glauconite.

Hydrozoa, or hydroids, are an invertebrate, with about 3,700 known species. Most hydroids live in salt water environments, but some have moved into freshwater habitats. They can either live separately or live in colonies.

Jade is a very durable mineral that was originally used for the manufacture of axe heads and weapons. Because of the beautiful colour of some of its specimen, it later became incorporated into jewellery and ornamental objects.

An attractive mineral often used for carving decorative objects. Look out for the jade adze in the Explorers and Collectors room.

An attractive mineral often used for carving decorative objects. Look out for the jade adze in the Explorers and Collectors room.

This smooth red pebble is a variety of quartz.

Animals, particularly birds often change colour during their development into adults. The Kittiwake chick finds its mottled early plumage particularly useful as camouflage.

This rare dark blue mineral is ground up to form the artist’s pigment ultramarine.

The Pinna family includes some of the largest shells known. They live attached to rocks with their silky strong byssus threads.

Lizards are a large group of reptiles with over 6,000 species, found in all continents except Antarctica. Most lizards are quadrupedal (using all four feet) and run with a strong side-to-side motion. Some are legless, and have long snake-like bodies (slow worms). Lizards are mostly carnivores and use many different adaptations to protect themselves, including: venom, camouflage, and the ability to lose and regrow their tail.

A secondary mineral of copper, malachite was used as a green pigment by artists.

A secondary mineral of copper, malachite was used as a green pigment by artists.

Mitra mitra, common name the Episcopal miter, is a species of large predatory sea snail, a marine gastropod mollusk in the family Mitridae, the miters.

This smaller cousin of the beaver comes from wetlands in North America

Large polished, brown mass showing pseudo-stalactitic concentric growth patterns

Obsidian is formed from rapidly cooled volcanic lavas with high silica, thrust to the earth’s surface in the latter stages of a volcanic eruption. Because it has no crystal structure it can be break into very sharp pieces so is used to make surgical blades.

Obsidian is formed from rapidly cooled volcanic lavas with high silica, thrust to the earth’s surface in the latter stages of a volcanic eruption.

Green like an olive, olivine comes from deep within the earth’s crust and is normally brought to the surface by volcanoes.

Commonly known as the Brazilian Little Owl, this South American butterfly is found from Guatemala to northern Argentina. Its eye-like markings mimic larger animals and deceive predators, or draw attention away from vulnerable body parts.

It is a species of snake found in southeast Asia and Asia. It has slender, large eyes, and a head larger than its neck. Their backs have a bronze colour, and their bellies have white scales with bright blue scales along the side of the body. They are often found in trees or low bushes.

Also known as obelia longissima, it is found in temperate (mild temperatures) and cold seas, but not in the tropics. It’s feathery stems resemble seaweed.

Found worldwide, it is also known as a sea bristle. Plumed hydroids are creamy yellow, or brown, and have feathery stems.

Also known as a sea-fir, it lives in a colony. It can be identified by its 3-D-like branches forming a spiral colony resembling a fir tree. They are often found in rocky habitats with strong tides or waves.

Also known as Bryozoa, they are aquatic invertebrates that live in sedentary (fixed to one spot) colonies. They have a special ‘crown’ of tentacles, used for filter feeding. Most live in tropical waters, but some are found in oceanic trenches and polar waters

Red crystals on a geode-type nodule.

This stone got its name because its red inclusions look like fragments of broken terracotta pots.

Bright green crystals of a lead ore mineral that sometimes occurs in sufficient quantity to be mined

Agates are mainly the same composition as quartz. Like the different coloured varieties of quartz, such as amethyst and citrine, agates inherit their colours from the variations in composition of trace elements in the fluids that deposited the mineral layers. They are commonly cut and polished for souvenirs or ornaments.

Like the different coloured varieties of quartz, such as amethyst and citrine, agates inherit their colours from the variations in composition of trace elements in the fluids that deposited the mineral layers. They are often cut and polished for souvenirs or ornaments..

A rock formed by erosion of iron-rich deposits. It has been used since ancient times to the present day, ground up, to make red paint and is sometimes burnt to enhance the red colour.

The male of this species of brown-flecked wading bird takes on this elaborate pumage in the breeding season. See the male’s winter plumage in the display case opposite.

It is also known as the breadcrumb sponge because of the way it crumbles when one holds it. It is an invertebrate which varies in colour from dark green to light yellow and is often found in shaded rock openings or under rocky overhangs in the waters of the North Atlantic and Mediterranean Sea.

Serpentine is a silicate. This cut and polished square has an old museum label describing it as ‘Rare Williamsite, Russia’. Williamsite is a variety of serpentine that is usually green.

A lively bird that lives in most of Europe and Asia and is most likely to visit our gardens during late winter months.

The smew shows an example of sexual dimorphism: males and females are different colours.

Also known as the rainbow water snake, this type of colubrid snake is mildly venomous, with fangs at the back of their mouth, and are found mostly in South and Southeast Asia.

An iron hydroxide - it contains oxygen and water.

An iron hydroxide - it contains oxygen and water.

A hydrated sodium calcium aluminium silicate

Sulphur is a poisonous but essential mineral. It smells like rotten eggs. It occurs in abundance around volcanoes and has many uses in fertilisers, fumigants, fungicides and pesticides, and in the manufacture of matches, fireworks and other explosives. Yellow colour in nature often signifies poison.

A large species of Moth from Central and South America. At 12 inches it has the largest wingspan of all butterflies and moths.

A vibrantly coloured variety of quartz named after its resemblance to the slit eye of a cat. It is formed when blue asbestos (crocidolite) is replaced by silicon dioxide and it gets its colour from oxidation of iron minerals. This sample comes from South Africa.

All tortoises have hard shells that help to protect their bodies. The domed top of the shell is called the carapace whereas the flat bottom is called the plastron.

Black rod-like crystals in off-white feldspar.

You can see several specimens on display that are preserved in alcohol. Alcohol is a natural preservative, not only does it help to prevent bacterial growth but in high enough doses it actively kills bacteria.

This is a Lesser masked weaver bird, probably female.

Wulfenite is a source of molybdenum, a strong material with a high temperature resistance making it useful in space exploration and for making weapons.

They include the Swallowtail butterfly, Brimstone moth, Swallow-tailed moth, Speckled yellow, Cream-spot tiger, Common yellow underwing, Death’s-head hawk moth, Oak eggar, Apricot sulphur, Cloudless sulphur and Orange-barred sulphur. These sulphur butterflies are from Central America and southern North America.

Like other molluscs, the majority of land snails are hermaphrodites, having both male and female sex organs. In many parts of the world such snails are farmed as food

1990
Cherryl Fountain (1905-79)
Watercolour

Mixed media with pigeon feathers: [Limited Edition Print]