Crustacea III
1885-1890
Frederick McCoy’s 19th-century plate offers a fascinating look at crustacean anatomy, splitting the subject into a vibrant whole and a detailed dissection. The bottom features a striking crab with a bumpy, bright red shell and massive claws tipped in black, staring the viewer down. Above, the creature is taken apart in grayscale sketches—isolating legs, mouthparts, and the segmented tail—to reveal the mechanical engineering of nature. These types of illustrations were crucial for naturalists in the 1880s to document and classify species before photography took over.
- Technique
- hand-colored lithograph
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