Scientific Illustration

biomedicalephemera:

Tapirus indicus - The Malayan tapir

The red eyes on this tapir are the result of light reflection upon the blue hazy sheen over their brown irises that’s common in most tapir species. They have poor eyesight to begin with, and though they’re naturally crepuscular (active around dawn and dusk), their eyes are very damaged by repeated light exposure, so despite not being nocturnal mammals, they still must rely primarily on their sense of smell and hearing.

This illustration was published in a posthumous edition of Buffon’s Histoire Naturelle, so I’m unsure of its true author - the Comte de Buffon died in 1788, and the first descriptions of the Malayan tapir were not recorded until 1819.

Histoire Naturelle. Georges-Louis Leclerk, Comte de Buffon, 1838 [posthumous edition].

biomedicalephemera:

Exoparasitic arthropoda:

1. Pediculus capitis - Head louse

2. Pediculus pubis - Pubic louse

3. Haematopinus suis - Pig louse

4. Gonoides stylifer - Poultry louse

5. Pulex irritans - “Human Flea” [misnomer - very wide range of hosts]

6. Pulex penetrans - Chigoe Flea/Jigger Flea (also known as a “jigger” - not to be confused with “chiggers”, which are small red mites)

Le Regne Animal Distribue d’Apres son Organisation, pour Servir de Base a l’Histoire Naturelle des Animaux. Georges Cuvier, 1838.