A thing of beauty

I have long had an interest in the history of zoological illustration and much admire the exquisite and detailed drawings, painting and etchings made by the Victorian naturalists. Today I thought I might share one with you.

This beautiful lithographic illustration is from A Monograph of The Fresh-Water Polyzoa, including all the known species, both British and Foreign by George Allman, Regius Professor of Natural History in the University of Edinburgh. It was published in 1856, by The Ray Society.

In the engraving a tiny Polyzoan known as Cristatella mucedo is shown draped over a water buttercup stem. George Allman was of the opinion that a more interesting and beautiful animal than....Cristatella mucedo can scarcely be imagined . If you make good use of the looking glass you might well agree with him!

What appears to be a single animal is in fact a number of individuals called zooids each possessing a crown of tentacles for feeding that form long gelatinous colonies within a soft, transparent body wall. They can 'glide' along slowly using their muscular 'foot' and they reproduce by dividing.