Coenonympha Ringlet Butterflies on Heath Grass. Humphreys lithograph c1860.

by Humphreys, H.N.

Pretty Ringlet Butterflies, caterpillar and chrysalis, antique print..
1.Coenonympha Typhon, the Marsh Ringlet Butterfly. 2.Underside with cream band fascia interrupted. 3.Coenonympha Polydama underside with cream-coloured band. 4,5.C.Iphis (Godart) caterpillar, chrysalis. 6,7.C.Davus. 8,9.C.Typhon.
On Aira flexuaosa, Common Heath-grass.

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

Humphreys was a British naturalist, entomologist and illustrator.. His presentation of butterflies with their 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.”

Currently mounted between antique-white conservation ragmat board, and covered with cellophane for protection, this can be purchased as print only.
Page size is 285 x 210mm (11.25 x 8.25 inches). External size for frame is 37 x 30cm (14.1/2 x  11.1/2 inches).