Dissection of Balcis alba
Date
1950s
Creator
Alastair Graham (1906 - 2000, British) , Zoologist
Object type
Archive reference number
Material
Dimensions
height (drawing): 245mm
width (drawing): 293mm
width (drawing): 293mm
Subject
Content object
Description
Anatomical study of the marine gastropod Balcis alba [Melanella alba], removed from its shell with the mantle skirt cut and folded and the gut lifted out and displayed. Presented with a 2mm scale.
Detail A from figure 140 of the book British prosobranch molluscs: their functional anatomy and ecology by Vera Fretter and Alastair Graham (London, Ray Society, 1962).
Both Graham and Fretter contributed high-quality illustrations to British prosobranch molluscs and artist attribution can be difficult. Graham’s Royal Society Biographical Memoir states that: “Dr Fretter drew the ‘whole animals’, and Graham most of the dissections and histological preparations. She concentrated on the reproductive system, larvae and shore ecology, and he on other aspects.”
Not signed. Inscribed in ink ‘Fig.140A Balcis. Set across page to maximum breadth available.’
Alastair Graham was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society in 1979.
Detail A from figure 140 of the book British prosobranch molluscs: their functional anatomy and ecology by Vera Fretter and Alastair Graham (London, Ray Society, 1962).
Both Graham and Fretter contributed high-quality illustrations to British prosobranch molluscs and artist attribution can be difficult. Graham’s Royal Society Biographical Memoir states that: “Dr Fretter drew the ‘whole animals’, and Graham most of the dissections and histological preparations. She concentrated on the reproductive system, larvae and shore ecology, and he on other aspects.”
Not signed. Inscribed in ink ‘Fig.140A Balcis. Set across page to maximum breadth available.’
Alastair Graham was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society in 1979.
Associated place