Item PZ 29.3 Watercolour and pencil illustrations - Yabby, Cherax destructor, quarry holes at Brunswick, Arthur Bartholomew, Nov 29th 1871

Summary

Watercolour, pencil and ink illustration, 459, of a Yabby, Cherax destructor, by Arthur Bartholomew, 29 November 1871, commissioned by Frederick McCoy for his zoological research. Bartholomew described this work as "Colored sketch from an older specimen".

The Yabby, Cherax destructor, had previously been illustrated by Ludwig Becker for Plate 29 in The Prodromus of the Zoology of Victoria by Frederick McCoy. This particular specimen was found in a quarry hole in Brunswick in November 1871.


These illustrations form 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 Unfortunately, almost 90 plates in the collection remain unpublished, and hundreds of illustrations were either not completed or not printed.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

Yabby, Cherax destructor by Arthur Bartholomew. Pencil, watercolour and ink on paper, 29th November 1871, 31cm x 24 cm. Produced in association with the publication of plate 29 in The Prodromus of Zoology of Victoria by Frederick McCoy.