Interestingly, Poe is not alone as a famous writer of fiction who became fascinated by a particular branch of zoology. About a century later, Vladimir Nabokov was obsessed with butterflies, with one of his hypotheses (then thought of as largely insignificant and incorrect) later being borne out by genetic studies -- ironic, given the man's distaste for the idea of genetics.

Nabokov himself even went so far as to say:

> It is not improbable that had there been no revolution in Russia, I would have devoted myself entirely to lepidopterology and never written any novels at all.