76 NORTH AMERICAN INSECTS. 



After her separation from her husband she for a long 

 time abandoned all kinds of company, and devoted herself 

 exclusively to the painting of insects, in order to be able to 

 represent them with sufficient accuracy for the purposes of 

 Natural History. The result of her labors in this depart- 

 ment appeared in 1679, in three volumes, published at Nu- 

 remberg, the plates being engraved by herself. 



The difficulty of preserving Caterpillars and other larvae 

 is sufficient to account for the small number to be found in 

 cabinets, even at the present day; and the most obvious 

 and satisfactory method of making up this deficiency is by 

 colored drawings taken from living specimens. The desire 

 of supplying this important desideratum, in regard to some 

 of the more remarkable insects of America, as well as of 

 determining the nature of their metamorphosis and kind of 

 food, had more influence in leading Madame Merian to visit 

 this country than her wish to delineate the perfect insects, 

 many of which were already known in Europe from the 

 preserved specimens. 



She accordingly set sail for America in the year 1699, 

 accompanied by one of her daughters. The place of her 

 destination was Dutch Guiana, often called Surinam, from 

 a river of that name, on which the capital, Paramaribo, is 

 situated, and lying between the fourth and sixth degrees of 

 north latitude. In this fruitful region her ardent curiosity 

 found ample means of gratification, and she remained near- 

 ly two years diligently employed in collecting and painting 

 insects. She returned to Europe, and gave those splendid 

 paintings to the public in 1705, in a work entitled ^'•Meta- 

 morphosis Insectoimm Surinamenisum, etc., the text drawn up 

 by Gaspar Commelin, from the manuscripts of the author." 



This heroic and industrious female naturalist, who has 

 contributed so much to the improvement and embellishment 

 of the Natural History of Insects, died in the year 1717, at 

 the advanced age of seventy years. 



