Water hyacinth with the development of a frog. Copperplate engraving in old colours from Maria Sibylla Merian, Metamorphosis Insectorum Surinamensium, Amsterdam 1705. 73 x 61 cm.
By her own instigation and on own funds, M.S. Merian undertook a journey to South American Surinam to do research on plants, caterpillars, butterflies and other animals. In 1701, she brought back to Amsterdam a collection of insects and their forage plants and extensive notes: bases for her major work on the insects of Surinam. In this work, she published one of the first depictions and descriptions of the development of the frog from spawn to tadpole through to the fully-grown animal.
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