Common-banded peacock swallowtail butterfly

A species of swallowtail butterfly (Papilio Crino) from a page in Edward Donovan's 'An epitome of the natural history of the insects of China', featuring over a hundred new, singular and beautiful species, some of which were important in medicine and domestic economy at the time.

Edward Donovan (1768-1837) was a natural history illustrator, amateur zoologist and writer. The figures in these books are accurately drawn, engraved and coloured from specimens of the insects. Donovan based the text and illustrations for this book on information shared with him by George Macartney, Britain’s first envoy to China.