Porcupine Gallery

Rhinoceros, zebra, porcupine and babirusa

Indian rhinoceros, Rhinoceros unicornis, plains zebra, Equus quagga, male 2, female 3, Indian porcupine, Hystrix indica, and Sulawesi babirusa, Babyrousa celebensis. Handcoloured copperplate engraving from Bertuch's Bilderbuch fur Kinder (Picture Book for Children), Weimar, 1792. Friedrich Johann Bertuch (1747-1822) was a German publisher and man of arts most famous for his 12-volume encyclopedia for children illustrated with 1,200 engraved plates on natural history, science, costume, mythology, etc., published from 1790-1830. Indian rhinoceros, Rhinoceros unicornis, plains zebra, Equus quagga, male 2, female 3, Indian porcupine, Hystrix indica, and Sulawesi babirusa, Babyrousa celebensis. Handcoloured copperplate engraving from Bertuch's Bilderbuch fur Kinder (Picture Book for Children), Weimar, 1792. Friedrich Johann Bertuch (1747-1822) was a German publisher and man of arts most famous for his 12-volume encyclopedia for children illustrated with 1,200 engraved plates on natural history, science, costume, mythology, etc., published from 1790-1830. Date:

© Florilegius/Mary Evans

Origin Species, CH Bennett, Wit - owl

An owl to wit'. Satire on Darwin's Origin of Species showing the evolution of a wit, from a candle, via a porcupine and owl. He calls himself a philosopher, and surrounds himself with books, yet a wit he is not, for earlier in his evolution as an owl he had merely covered his stupidity in feathers and earlier still was so afraid of exposing it that he came out in the prickles of a fretful porcupine. He used to be a shining light (three candlesticks) but ironically the book he is holding has evolved from a pair of candle snuffers that will probably ultimately extinguish him

© Mary Evans Picture Library