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raysocietybooks.bsky.social
RaySocietyBooks
@raysocietybooks.bsky.social
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The Ray Society a 180 yr old non-profit charity named after eminent naturalist John Ray (1628-1705) publishes natural history works often unavailable elsewhere.
raysociety.org.uk
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raysocietybooks.bsky.social
RaySocietyBooks @raysocietybooks.bsky.social · 11d
Excited to announce a forthcoming public'n ‘Marine crabs and lobsters from Gulf of Mexico and adjacent waters, Florida to Belize: Darryl L.Felder's magnus opus in 3 vols 'A colour-illustrated catalogue and keys to reptant decapod crustaceans'. More posts coming with vol content.
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plazi-species.bsky.social
#NewSpecies!
New crab from the #marianaridge just pinched us:

Samadinia quindecimspina

Treatment: treatment.plazi.org/id/E55E156E-...
Publication: doi.org/10.11646/zoo...
#Zootaxa #SamadiniaQuindecimspina

#FAIRdata
#taxonomy #biodiversity #wildlife #conservation #animals #crustacea #crab #deepsea
Samadinia quindecimspina, male, habitus in dorsal view, colouration in life.
January 9, 2026 at 7:15 AM
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biodiversitypix.bsky.social
🐼 Annual report of the New Jersey State Museum
Trenton, N.J.: MacCrellish & Quigley, State Printers, 1902-1915.

[Source]
Illustration from a 1902–1915 New Jersey State Museum report showing detailed scientific drawings of twelve crustaceans and barnacles, including various species of amphipods and copepods. Each specimen is numbered and labeled with its Latin name, such as Pandarus sinuatus, Idotea metallica, and Balanus eburneus. The drawings depict different views and anatomical details, highlighting segmented bodies, antennae, and legs. Scale bars accompany most figures to indicate size. This plate focuses on marine invertebrates commonly found in coastal environments. No pandas or mammals are depicted, despite the keyword "panda."
January 16, 2026 at 11:23 PM
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nhmbryozoa.bsky.social
Delighted to have received a copy of this superb book on Late Cretaceous bryozoans from the Maastricht region written by Oliver Kesselhut and Luk Goffings. Beautifully illustrated and thoroughly recommended.
January 17, 2026 at 12:00 PM
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andreahart.bsky.social
Very proud to have worked with @edwinrose.bsky.social and our other partners in New Zealand and at Cambridge on this. Even happier to see the fruits of Sydney Parkinson’s skill and efforts in glorious high resolution detail nhm.primo.exlibrisgroup.com/permalink/44... #botanicalart #collaboration
January 16, 2026 at 8:20 PM
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ianbeavis.bsky.social
A portrait of the Snow Flea, a winter-active wingless scorpionfly, from John Curtis's British Entomology
January 16, 2026 at 7:04 PM
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plazi-species.bsky.social
#NewSpecies!
New semiterrestrial crab from #malaysia just pinched us:

Geosesarma wongi

Treatment: treatment.plazi.org/id/91E6CB1F-...
Publication: doi.org/10.3897/zook...
#Zookeys #GeosesarmaWongi

#FAIRdata
#taxonomy #ecology #biodiversity #nature #wildlife #conservation #animals #crustacea #crab
Geosesarma wongi, holotype male. Colour in life.
January 16, 2026 at 8:49 AM
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ianbeavis.bsky.social
Tunbridge Wells' very own Rev Thomas Stebbing monographed the crustaceans from the Challenger expeditions. He never went to sea himself, but studied the specimens at his home, Ephraim Lodge on Tunbridge Wells Common
royalsociety.org The Royal Society @royalsociety.org · 28d
#OnThisDay in 1872, the expedition of HMS Challenger set sail from Portsmouth, travelling nearly 70,00 nautical miles and cataloguing over 4000 unknown species over 4 years. This pioneering expedition, organised by the Royal Society, laid the foundations of oceanography.
January 15, 2026 at 6:42 PM
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biodiversitypix.bsky.social
🦞 Encyclopédie d'histoire naturelle
Paris: Maresq[1851-1860].

[Source]
Historical illustration from "Encyclopédie d'histoire naturelle" (1851-1860) showing two detailed black-and-white scientific drawings of crustaceans. The top figure (Fig. 1) depicts a "Langouste commune," a spiny lobster viewed from above, highlighting its segmented body, long antennae curved downward, multiple legs, and fan-like tail. The bottom figure (Fig. 2) shows an "Alime hyaline," a smaller crustacean with a slender body and elongated appendages, presented in profile. Both illustrations emphasize anatomical features with fine line work and shading, typical of 19th-century natural history prints, on a plain light background.
January 16, 2026 at 7:23 AM
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naturebureau.bsky.social
Our new 416pp #FliesofBritainandIreland covering over 1300 species & with over 1500 photos is now being printed - due mid Feb 2026. You can still pre-order until 31 Jan bit.ly/4dqQI8Z
@flygirlnhm.bsky.social @gailashton.bsky.social
@dipteristsforum.bsky.social @georgemcgavin.bsky.social
January 13, 2026 at 3:26 PM
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wildlife.nathan.fun
Versuch einer Naturgeschichte der Krabben und Krebse: Berlin ;Bei Gottlieb August Lange, 1782-1804. (source: https://biodiversitylibrary.org/page/41876390) #nature #illustration #art
Versuch einer Naturgeschichte der Krabben und Krebse: Berlin ;Bei Gottlieb August Lange, 1782-1804. https://biodiversitylibrary.org/page/41876390�
January 13, 2026 at 9:05 PM
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wildlife.nathan.fun
The natural history of British fishes: London: Printed for the author, and for F. and C. Rivington, 1802-08. (source: https://biodiversitylibrary.org/page/5897224) #nature #illustration #art
The natural history of British fishes: London: Printed for the author, and for F. and C. Rivington, 1802-08. https://biodiversitylibrary.org/page/5897224�
January 14, 2026 at 3:35 AM
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bookswain.bsky.social
An engraving of the Cowthorpe Oak after a drawing by S. H. Grimm in my 1776 edition of ‘Sylva, or A Discourse of Forest-Trees’ by John Evelyn, a founding member of the @royalsociety.org.
First published as a book in 1664, it’s considered one of the most important books on forestry.
📚💙
A fold out plate in a book published in 1776 with an illustration of a large oak tree with no leaves. A figure with a stick over its shoulder walking a dog is to the tree’s right. #forests #trees #botany #booksky #histsci 🌱 🌳 #c18th
January 14, 2026 at 4:49 AM
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romanceofbooks.bsky.social
Fish illustrations from ‘The Zoology of Captain Beecheys Voyage,’ Published in London in 1839 by H.G. Bohn and edited by Frederick William Beechey, an English naval officer, artist, explorer, and writer.

American Geographical Society Library.

#animalart #sciart
January 14, 2026 at 12:10 AM
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ianbeavis.bsky.social
Following up that last repost with a portrait of the Lappet moth and its larva from John Curtis's British Entomology (1824)
January 13, 2026 at 9:29 PM
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raysocietybooks.bsky.social
3/3 Marine crabs and lobsters from Gulf of Mexico.. D.Felder Vol 3: keys + spp accounts for superfamilies Trichopeltarioidea,Cancroidea,Carpilioidea,Portunoidea, Goneplacoidea,Eriphioidea,Trapezioidea,Pseudozioidea,Pilumnoidea, Xanthoidea,Cryptochiroidea,Pinnotheroidea,Ocypodoidea&Grapsoidea.
January 7, 2026 at 12:53 PM
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raysocietybooks.bsky.social
2/3 Marine crabs and lobsters from Gulf of Mexico..D.Felder Vol 2: keys+species accounts for superfamily Paguroidea & brachyuran superfamilies Raninoidea, Homolodromioidea,Dromioidea, Homoloidea,Cyclodorippoidea, Dorippoidea,Leucosioidea, Calappoidea,Aethroidea, Parthenopoidea,Majoidea&Palicoidea.
January 7, 2026 at 12:49 PM
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raysocietybooks.bsky.social
1/3 ‘Marine crabs and lobsters from Gulf of Mexico..’ D.Felder Vol 1: Intro, figs & photos, keys to families & species accounts for infraorders Stenopodidea, Polychelida, Achelata, Astacidea, Axiidea, Gebiidea & superfamilies Chirostyloidea, Galatheoidea & Hippoidea.
January 7, 2026 at 12:47 PM
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raysocietybooks.bsky.social
Excited to announce a forthcoming public'n ‘Marine crabs and lobsters from Gulf of Mexico and adjacent waters, Florida to Belize: Darryl L.Felder's magnus opus in 3 vols 'A colour-illustrated catalogue and keys to reptant decapod crustaceans'. More posts coming with vol content.
January 7, 2026 at 10:11 AM
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rachelburch.bsky.social
Day 9 of my ‘getting through January vintage floral plates from books’, illustrations from Wild flowers of the British isles Isobel Adams 1904
#botanical-illustration. I feel very lucky to own a volume of this book with beautiful paintings and art nouveau lettering.
Mallow illustration and wording description Hawthorn and description Houseleek and descriptive lettering Pink flower description PINK, DIANTHUS DELTOIDES THE PINK FAMILY, CORDER XI, CARTORMLUNG/E CALYX Of 35 cr 4 SEPALS, frec or united at the bas Into a tubx. remaining with the fruit, inscrted below the secdcos. COROLLA of 5 or -4 PETALS. the some number as the sepuls, sometimes minute or absent, free, twisted in bud, inserted, below the seedcase. STAMENS 5 or 4,10 cr 8, the same number or twice as many as the petais, Inseried blow the secccase shypogynouss. PISTIL d' 2-5 CARPElS,united Into a reclica cran impericatly 2 to s celled sedicase ovary) and dividing into 2-5 styles with the stigmatic surface running along their entire length. FRUIT a i-celled or imperfoctly 2-to 5-cclked cap-sule, many-seeded,opening. to free the seeds when ript, at the top, by as many or twice as.many teeth as there are styles. FLOWERS usually in loose forted clustars the contral flower opening first dichotomous cymes) or solitary, generally red or white. STEMS thichened at the jeints (nodes). LEAVES opposite, undivided simples, and entirs. DISTINGUISNED BY the flowers having the same number, 5 or -+ ,of sepals and petals and the same on double the numbar of stamens, by the usually rolled, many seded. capsules. by the entire opposite leaves and by the stans with swollen joints modes). bracts petal •SCCO scamarts pistil
January 9, 2026 at 10:36 AM
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nhmlibraryarchives.bsky.social
We hold collections of his artwork, including drawings published in the acclaimed: A history of British mammals by Gerald E.H. Barrett-Hamilton [1910-1921].

⬆️ Use the link in our bio to the 'Digitised Collections' to view this collection and to explore many others.
Original watercolour drawing of a hedgehog. The image has a sense of being sepia due to the use of shades of black and light brown / grey. An original watercolour drawing of three red squirrels. One squirrel dominates the foreground, one sits in the background at the bottom of a tree, and the lower part of a third can be seen climbing the tree. The main squirrel looks to be eating something, with its hands in front of it.
January 9, 2026 at 12:34 PM
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endofthepier.bsky.social
Two mammals enjoying @stevebrusatte.bsky.social ‘s forthcoming book on the history of birds.
January 9, 2026 at 9:29 PM
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edwinrose.bsky.social
Delighted to see this recent article in the @smithsonianmag.bsky.social by @donnalferguson.bsky.social on some of the research outputs for the Naming Species in the South Pacific project: www.smithsonianmag.com/history/newl... With thanks to our collaborators, @nhmlibraryarchives.bsky.social
Newly Digitized Records Reveal How Indigenous People Shared Their Knowledge of New Zealand's Plants With Captain Cook's Crew
Long-overlooked documents housed at London's Natural History Museum testify to the exchange of information between 18th-century European botanists and their Indigenous counterparts
www.smithsonianmag.com
January 8, 2026 at 5:41 PM
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darwinsbulldog.bsky.social
My first read of 2026: The Wake of HMS Challenger: How a Legendary Victorian Voyage Tells the Story of Our Oceans' Decline by Gillen D'Arcy Wood (@princetonupress.bsky.social, 2025): bit.ly/49sMNZh #HPS #histsci #environment #oceans #books #sciencebooks
January 9, 2026 at 11:26 PM
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linneansociety.bsky.social
Explorer & naturalist Alfred Russel Wallace was born #OTD in 1823. He independently conceived the theory of evolution by natural selection & was the father of biogeography.

His portrait hangs at the Society alongside Charles Darwin, commemorating the 1858 reading of their joint paper on evolution.
Roger Remington's portrait of Alfred Russel Wallace. He sits in a chair with a picture of a butterfly on his knee. In the background is a painting showing a young Wallace on an expedition.
January 9, 2026 at 11:31 AM
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linneansociety.bsky.social
Today marks 247 years since the death of Carl Linnaeus (1707–1778). His work underpins modern biology, from placing humans within the animal kingdom to establishing binomial nomenclature still used today (e.g. Homo sapiens). At the Linnean Society, we reflect on his enduring legacy.
Portrait of Carl Linnaeus
January 10, 2026 at 11:00 AM