Background:

These beautiful hand-colored prints are from the English edition of The Animal Kingdom, the best known work of the French naturalist Baron Georges Cuvier.  Cuvier authored the scientific text which was illustrated by M. Latreille.  The goal of this series was to "serve as a foundation for the natural history of animals and an introduction to comparative anatomy".  The subjects covered included mammals, birds, fish, insects, reptiles, mollusks and crustacea.