LINNAEUS, C.

Centuria Insectorum Rariorum quam... praeside... Carolo von Linné... submittit Boas Johansson.

Eur 1,500 / USD 1,700
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Upsalia (1763). 8vo. (180 x145mm). pp. (6), 32. Cloth strip on spine.

First edition. The 'Centuria Insectorum' (one hundred insects) is a 1763 taxonomic work by Carl Linnaeus, and defended as a thesis by Boas Johansson; which of the two men should be credited with its authorship has been the subject of some controversy. It includes descriptions of 102 new insects and crustacean species that had been sent to Linnaeus from British America, Suriname, Java and other locations. Most of the new names included in the 'Centuria Insectorum' are still in use, although a few have been sunk into synonymy, and one was the result of a hoax: a Common Brimstone butterfly with spots painted on was described as the new "species" Papilio ecclipsis.
The specimens used by Linnaeus or Johansson in writing Centuria Insectorum include some provided by Dr Alexander Garden, a horticulturist from Charles Town in the Province of South Carolina, by Carl Gustav Dahlberg in Suriname, by Hans Johan Nordgren in Java, and from the collection of Baron Charles De Geer from the Province of Pennsylvania. The work appeared also in the 'Amoenitates Academicae'.

Soulsby 2251.