Seagrape and bella moth
Date
1731
Creator
Mark Catesby (1683-1749, British), Naturalist
Object type
Library reference
18894
Material
Technique
Subject
Content object
Description
Study of a seagrape specimen, Coccoloba uvifera, referred to here as Prunus maritima racemosa, showing large, green leaves and purple flowers and; a bella moth, Utetheisa ornatrix, referred to here as Phalaena Caroliniana.
Written in the associated description: 'This Moth has a dusky white Body, with a few black Spots near the Head; the two upper Wings are yellow, each of which is crossed by six white Lines, spotted with black; the two under Wings are red, with their lower Parts verged with black.'
Plate 96 from volume II of Mark Catesby’s The natural history of Carolina, Florida and the Bahama Islands (London, 1731).
Mark Catesby (1683-1749), British naturalist was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society in 1733. Travelling under the auspices of the Royal Society, Catesby recorded the earliest western scientific descriptions of the flora and fauna of the ‘New World’. He was the first naturalist to use folio-sized colour plates in a natural history book, and etched the copper plates himself before hand-colouring each individual print with watercolours.
Written in the associated description: 'This Moth has a dusky white Body, with a few black Spots near the Head; the two upper Wings are yellow, each of which is crossed by six white Lines, spotted with black; the two under Wings are red, with their lower Parts verged with black.'
Plate 96 from volume II of Mark Catesby’s The natural history of Carolina, Florida and the Bahama Islands (London, 1731).
Mark Catesby (1683-1749), British naturalist was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society in 1733. Travelling under the auspices of the Royal Society, Catesby recorded the earliest western scientific descriptions of the flora and fauna of the ‘New World’. He was the first naturalist to use folio-sized colour plates in a natural history book, and etched the copper plates himself before hand-colouring each individual print with watercolours.