Item PZ 7.1 Pencil & watercolour illustration - The Giant Earth-worm, Megascolides australis McCoy 1878, by Arthur Bartholomew

Summary

Pencil and watercolour illustration (D466) of the type specimens of the Giant Gippsland Earthworm, Megascolides australis, from Brandy Creek, Gippsland, by Arthur Bartholomew, 3 October 1873. This work was commissioned by Frederick McCoy, the first Director of The National Museum of Victoria, for Plate 7 in 'The Prodromus of the Zoology of Victoria; Figures and descriptions of the living species of all classes of the Victoria indigenous animals'.

The Prodromus account is McCoy's original description of this species, and the type specimens (syntypes) are registered as NMV F 40135, in the Museum's Invertebrate Zoology Collection. The Giant Gippsland Earthworm, which has declined in its distributional range, is protected in Victoria, and was the first invertebrate to be listed as Vulnerable under Commonwealth legislation.

Bartholomew's illustration forms part of the much larger Prodromus Collection. Many of the original illustrations and prints in the collection informed the production of The Prodromus, the first major publication of the National Museum of Victoria. Between 1878 and 1890, McCoy published his zoology 'Prodromus' as 20 parts in two volumes, with each part comprising 20 plates. Unfortunately, almost 90 plates in the collection remain unpublished, and hundreds of illustrations were either not completed or not printed.

Description of Content

Giant Gippsland Earthworm, Megascolides australis, by Arthur Bartholomew. Drawing, pencil, watercolour and ink on paper, 3rd Oct 1873, 17cm x 26cm. Drawing for Plate 7 in The Prodromus of the Zoology of Victoria by Frederick McCoy.