The guinea pig at the Last Supper | Brief letters

Animal iconography | Ladybirds' absence | Measuring space gloop | Nat King Cole's Route 66 | Morris mushrooms"I'm looking for the wombat in the altarpiece now," says Heather Dalton, the historian who found a cockatoo in a 16th-century Italian altarpiece created long before Captain Cook washed up in Australia (Report, 27 June). She might enjoy the 17th-century painting of the Last Supper in Cuzco Cathedral in Peru, which shows a festive spread of wine, bread, fruit and, at the very centre of the painting, a roast guinea pig. Professor Rebecca EarleUniversity of Warwicko I have seen a few white butterflies but nothing more colourful (Letters, 28 June). But where are all the ladybirds? So far this year I have seen two larvae and one pupa - both, I think, of the dreaded harlequin - but no adults. I hope they come soon, as I have laid on a special feast for them of many large succulent blackfly.Tim GosslingCambridge Continue reading...