Item PZ 40.3 Lithographic colour proof - Entometa ignobilis, The Lictor Case-Moth, and Metura elongata, Saunders' Case-Moth, by Arthur Bartholomew

Summary

Colour print of the life stages of the Faggot Case Moth, Clania ignobilis, and Saunders Case-moth, Metura elongatus, by Arthur Bartholomew, 28 February 1861. This work was commissioned by Frederick McCoy, the first Director of The National Museum of Victoria, for Plate 40 in The Prodromus of the Zoology of Victoria; Figures and descriptions of the living species of all classes of the Victoria indigenous animals.

McCoy originally referred to the Faggot Case Moth as The Lictor Case-Moth, Entometa ignobilis, noting that "The name Lictor-Moth is suggested by the resemblance of the case to the fasces or bundles of rods borne by the Lictors of old before the Roman magistrates".

The object, which is a double imprint with Plate 32, 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 Unfortunately, almost 90 plates in the collection remain unpublished, and hundreds of illustrations were either not completed or not printed.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

Saunders' Case-Moth / Faggot Case Moth, Metura elongatus / Clania ignobilis (Walker) by Arthur Bartholomew. Colour proof, lithographic ink on paper. Published as Plate 40 in The Prodromus of the Zoology of Victoria by Frederick McCoy.