Pyrgus and Nisionades Skipper Butterflies. Humphreys lithograph c1860.

by Humphreys, H.N.

Antique print of Skipper Butterfly, caterpillar and chrysalis.
Pyrgus Malvae (Grizzled Skipper) male, female, underside, caterpillar, on leaf prepared for change to chrysalis. White-banded Pyrgus Malvae, underside. Nisoniades Tages (Diongy Skipper) male, female, underside, caterpillar, chrysalis. Pyrgus Oileus, underside. Host Plants, Dipsacus fullonum (Fuller's Teazle) and Eryngium campestre (Field Eryngo).

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.”

What a wonderful image of skipper butterflies. Page size is 285 x 210mm (11.25 x 8.25 inches).