Uncovering the lost treasures of Darwin’s ‘rival’ Alfred Russel Wallace

As we meticulously explore every nook and cranny of the herbarium as part of our Digitisation Project, delving into 300 years of science and history, we have uncovered many hidden gems. Among the beautiful and intriguing wonders that we’ve encountered, one, in particular, has left me, a Digitisation Officer at Kew, in awe. 

One rainy day in March, as the afternoon was drawing to a close and we were winding down, I heard a chuckle from a nearby workstation. A colleague had found a specimen wrapped in an individual folder with the text: “A genuine A.R. Wallace specimen!” scrawled over it.

After calling me over to show me how cute it was that someone had once geeked out over this specimen, my colleague was wildly unprepared for the reaction that would ensue. 

My jaw hit the ground.

An actual Alfred Russel Wallace specimen! A small climbing herb, picked and handled by the man himself. Who knows the last time this was taken out of the cupboards? How many people knew this was here? How many more Wallace specimens are there to be found in the thousands of cabinets that line the walls of the Kew herbarium? And here one was in my hands. 

Wallace’s defining journey

In 1854, Wallace made it across the oceans to an area of the world known as the Indo-Australian Archipelago, also called the Malay Archipelago or Nusantara. The area, seen nowadays as an environmentally unique and scientifically astounding region, includes modern-day Indonesia, Malaysia, and Singapore. 

Currently home to 20-25% of the world’s flora and fauna, little was known about Southeast Asia in Wallace’s day. What Wallace would discover here would not only blow his mind, but also change the world. 

Face-to-face: Wallace finds the Wallace line

The near-impenetrable narrow strait between Bali and Lombok represented a barrier between the two islands, prompting distinct faunal assemblages to form either side of the line that were well-adapted to their environments.

Moreover, between other islands within the archipelago, distinct but related species were present (particularly evident in beetles, one of Wallace’s favourite taxonomic areas), suggesting gradual changes in species over generations. Wallace had just pieced together the process underpinning all life on earth: evolution. 

The phenomenon that Wallace had just encountered between Bali and Lombok is what we now call the Wallace Line. A deep stretch of water between Bali and Lombok that had prevented the land masses from joining during periods of low sea level (such as the ice ages).

After presenting their joint research in 1858, Darwin's theory of natural selection was published the following year. To this day, Wallace’s part in the development of this theory has never been properly credited and, sadly, few outside of the scientific community recognise his name. 

Regardless, Wallace was an astounding man with astounding accomplishments. An idol of mine and a true underdog in scientific history. And who doesn’t love an underdog? 

So, no matter what the textbooks say, finding a Wallace specimen (from Lombok no less) will continue to be one of the highlights of the digitisation process for me!