Arge Galathea (Marble White), Lasiommata Aegeria (Speckled Wood), c1860.

by Humphreys, H.N.

Butterflies Lifecyle Transformation antique print. Humphreys lithograph.

Arge Galathea underside, Caterpillar, Chrysalis. Dark variety of A. Galathea underside, Lasiommata Aegeria (Speckled Wood Butterfly) underside, Caterpillar, Chrysalis.

Original  hand-coloured lithograph arranged and illustrated by Henry Noel Humphreys (1810-1879) with characters and descriptions by John Obadiah Westwood (1805-1893), F.L.S. and secretary of the Entomological Society, for British Butterflies and their Transformations published in London c1860.

Humphreys was a British naturalist, entomologist and illustrator. His presentation of butterflies with caterpillar and chrysalis, impressed curators at the British Museum, who adopted this method of illustrating the transformation lifecycle of insects. Humphreys wrote, “The study of natural history... cannot conceive a more pleasing and natural introduction to its general study than entomology, of which I think the division of Lepidoptera.. the most easy and attractive section.  H. N. Humphreys, Esq.”

Pretty butterfly lithograph with faint paper rubs and soiling of page. Size is 285 x 210mm (11.25 x 8.25 inches).