Potter's World

Poor Mrs. Tittlemouse had all sorts of insect intruders in her home. A "most terribly tidy particular little mouse", she chased away a beetle, a ladybird, a spider and a butterfly, as well as persuading Mr. Jackson to remove a whole nest of bees.

Beatrix Potter's interest in insects began when she was very young.

One of her earliest sketchbooks contains drawings of caterpillars. Later, in the 1890s, she visited the Natural History Museum in South Kensington and studied the displays of insects there.

(Above) Miss Butterfly was tasting the sugar from The Tale of Mrs. Tittlemouse (1910) (Middle) "Zizz, Bizz, Bizzz!" From The Tale of Mrs. Tittlemouse (1910)(Below) Bees, wasps and flies, possibly copied from an illustrated book on entomology, c. 1895.