Lithography

I have long had an interest in the history of zoological illustration and much admire the exquisite and detailed drawings, paintings, etchings and models made by the Victorian naturalists. Today, it being too icy to safely venture out, I thought I might share one with you.

This beautiful lithographic illustration is from "A Monograph of The Fresh-Water Polyzoa, including all the known species, both British and Foreign" by George Allman, Regius Professor of Natural History in the University of Edinburgh. It was published in 1856, by The Ray Society. Lithographs were made by engraving a drawing onto a fine limestone block and then printing from it. Archaeopteryx, perhaps the world's most famous fossil, was discovered in a quarried block of lithographic limestone.

In the engraving a tiny Polyzoan known as Cristatella mucedo is shown draped over a water buttercup stem. George Allman was of the opinion that a more interesting and beautiful animal than Cristatella mucedo can scarcely be imagined. You might like to see a photograph of the living animal.

What appears to be a single animal is in fact a number of individuals called zooids each possessing a crown of tentacles for feeding that form long gelatinous colonies within a soft, transparent body wall. They can 'glide' along slowly using their muscular 'foot' and they reproduce by dividing.