Erucarum ortus, alimentum et paradoxa metamorphosis, in qua origo, pabulum, transformatio ... erucarum, vermium, papilionum, phalaenarum, muscarum (etc.)

“The Amazing Metamorphosis of Caterpillars and Unusual Nourishment of Flowers” was published in Nuremberg in 1679-1683. The first complete Latin edition was then published one year after the death of the author Maria Sibylla Merian. The daughter of the widely known Frankfurt publisher, copper engraver and printer Matthäus Merian the Elder, was an important natural scientist and artist. She was one of the first scientists to systematically observe insects and discover something about their actual life conditions. She became famous through her main work, “Metamorphosis insectorum Surinamensium” (1705), in which she set out her observations on the life-cycles of insects in the then Dutch colony of Surinam during a two-year voyage.