Description
Medium: Watercolour illustration.
Summary: This unpublished scientific illustration (No. II) depicts the life stages of the Coprosma Hawk-moth, Hippotion scrofa (as Scrofa Hawk Moth, Chaerocampa scrofa), from Studley Park near Melbourne, by Arthur Bartholomew, January to March, 1861. This work, commissioned by Frederick McCoy, Director of the National Museum of Victoria, forms part of the much larger Prodromus Collection. Many of the original illustrations in the collection informed the production of the two-volume work, The Prodromus of the Zoology of Victoria, the first major publication of the National museums of Victoria, commencing in 1878.
Bartholomew illustrated the larva, pupa,adult moths, and the host plant, noting the date of each successive transition towards metamorphosis. When the perfect imago (adult insect) emerged, the species would be identified by William Kershaw, pinned and entered into the collection. The level of detail attained by Bartholomew in these illustrations makes them one of the most significant contributions to natural history illustration in colonial Australia. This illustration is annotated with pencil notes by Bartholomew and McCoy.
Physical description: Coprosma Hawk Moth, Hippotion Scrofa, by Arthur Bartholomew. Illustration - Pencil, water colour and varnish on paper 25 cm x 15 cm. Unpublished illustration, No. II, commissioned by Frederick McCoy as part of his zoological research.
Image Licence
Attribution 4.0 International (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0)
Image Credit
Image source Museums Victoria
Location
Yarra Bend Park, Melbourne, Australia
Country
Australia
Medium
Watercolour
Tags
Category
Flora & Fauna
