DescriptionPair of Antique Hand-Colored Engravings, Including:1) Entomology - Hand colored copper plate engraving (watercolor engraving), on hand made rag paper, by J.J. Schmuzer from INSECTS AND BUTTERFLIES c.1805. Engraving shows a butterfly transformation. Published c.1805 in Vienna, Austria. Measuring approx. 4.5" x 7.5”2) Marine Biology, Zoology - Engraving from Histoire Naturelle Generale et Particuliere by Georges-Louis Leclerc Comte de Buffon, Volume 97, de l'Imprimerie de F. Dufart, 1800. Inscriptions: Upper Left: Pl. XXI Upper Right: J.5.8.297. Lower Left "De Seve Del" Lower right: "E Voysard S" Center inscription: 1. Le Centrisque cuirassé [Fish of the genus Centriscus. The battleship Centrisque.]; 2. Le Gymnote electrique [A Gymnotus is an electric fish in the family Gymnotiformes, a species of eel (fish), with an elongated shape resembling a sea serpent, except for the fins and gills it bears.] Measures approx. 8" H x 5" W.Notes1) From INSECTS AND BUTTERFLIES, a collection of decorative, period, very erudite colored copperplates depicting beetles, caterpillars, grasshoppers, dragonflies, awls, ants, bugs and other species in the 1st part of the volume (46 plates) and butterflies, moths and their caterpillars in the 2nd part of the volume (52 blackboard). Insects are often depicted in their natural habitat, on branches and leaves. A two-sheet non-colored methodical board is included at the beginning. The panels were made by J.J. Schmuzer, a German engraver active in the years 1795-1810, a specialist in natural science topics, an expert in animal and plant morphology. 2) Georges-Louis Leclerc, Comte de Buffon (September 7, 1707 -- April 16, 1788) was a French naturalist, mathematician, biologist, cosmologist and author. Buffon's views influenced the next two generations of naturalists, including Jean-Baptiste Lamarck and Charles Darwin. Darwin himself, in his foreword to the 6th edition of the Origin of Species, credited Aristotle with foreshadowing the concept of natural selection, and stated that "the first author who in modern times has treated it in a scientific spirit was Buffon". Buffon is best remembered for his great work Histoire naturelle, générale et particulière (1749-1788: in 36 volumes, 8 additional volumes published after his death by Lacépède). It included everything known about the natural world up until that date. In it Buffon considered the similarities between humans and apes, and the possibility of a common ancestry. Buffon debated James Burnett, Lord Monboddo on the question of ancestry of the primates to man, Monboddo insisting on the closeness of relationship of man and apes. Buffon's work is considered to have greatly influenced modern ecology. His Histoire was translated into many different languages, making him the most widely read scientific author of the day.