On 3rd May 1927 Vanessa Bell wrote to her sister Virginia Woolf about an incident of a large moth that had been attracted by the light inside the house they were staying at in Cassis, France and that they had caught for her children's collection of lepidoptera - the contents of this letter inspired Virginia with a title of 'The Moths' as an idea for a new book which became the working and evolutionary title for her novel 'The Waves'. The species of moth was the 'The Large Emperor ' - Saturnia pyri ... the smaller English species of this moth is the Saturnia pavonia. Notes: 1. During the evolution of this exhibition at Dimbola Lodge I was fortunate enough to be able purchase a small personal collection of insects and lepidoptera from an elderly man in Worthing,Sussex which contained the 'Saturnia pavonia' that is in the book piece. 2. On the 5th May 1927, Vanessa also received 2 copies of Virginia's second novel 'To The Lighthouse' . [The '3rd May' date of this letter written by Vanessa to her sister Virginia about the story of the moth was also a happy and memorable coincidence in being the date of birth of my first child in 1986 ]