29 Studies of the Leaf Cutting Bee (SOLD)
British
19th Century
by Fred Enock FLS FES (1845 - 1916)
Pen and watercolour on paper; cut and mounted on black gouache sheets.
45.6 cm by 45 cm (18 x 17.75 in)
These superb drawings of the anatomy and habit of a leaf cutting bee were made by entomologist Fred Enock who was renowned for his exquisite preparations and mountings of microscope slides, said to be "arranged with a perfection which has never been equalled". As a young man of 20, Enock joined the Birmingham Natural History Society and soon after began work with his uncle Edmund Wheeler, whose catalogue of microscope slides included a stock of 20,000. He gave lecture tours "profusely illustrated by numerous original drawings" many of which would have been photographed for lantern slides. The draughtsmanship in these drawings is remarkable and it is said that he would spend as much as 100 hours at a single insect head.
Fellow of the Linean Society and the Entomological Society and Honorary Member of the Quekett Microscopical Club (founded in 1865), Fred Enock discovered 150 new species to Britain in the Mymaridae family (a tiny parasitic wasp) but never published an indented monograph on them.
Literature: Fred Enock 1845-1916 The Man and His Work. Microscopy pp657-674