HOME HELP FEEDBACK SUBSCRIPTIONS ARCHIVE SEARCH TABLE OF CONTENTS		QUICK SEARCH:   [advanced] Author: Keyword(s): Year:  Vol:  Page:

Cover Legend: Ammonitida: Ammonshorne (Mollusca: Cephalopoda) by Ernst Haeckel; Plate 44, Kunstformen der Natur (1904). Ernst Haeckel (1834-1919) was the German scientist who coined the phrase "ontogeny recapitulates phylogeny" and the terms "Darwinism" and "ecology." Haeckel traveled far and wide, from Sicily to Ceylon, to the North Sea, and beyond. Sketchpads and watercolors accompanied his microscope wherever he went. His on-the-spot drawings of deep-sea vegetation, aquatic creatures, frogs, birds, and higher animals were turned into more than 1000 engravings. From this treasure trove, a selection of 100 colored lithographs was produced for publication in his Kunstformen der Natur. The work is considered one of the marvels of 19th century naturalist illustration. These spiral-shaped mollusks are an extinct species of cephalopod that thrived in the Paleozoic Age. Their petrified shells were found in great quantity, aggregated into large, rocky formations. Their nautilus-chambered interior compartments are filled with air, diminishing body weight and increasing buoyancy. The range of surface and internal patterning is unusually varied. Some display mechanical, chiseled interiors which closely resemble mitochondrial cristae (bottom center); others seem to be covered by a diaphanous lacy veil as in the Ammonite Opulentus (center left). Repetition and regularity make Haeckel's designs look even more machine-made. The bodies of this species exist as demi-shells: essentially we are looking at mollusks on-the-half-shell. From an exhibition "Ernst Haeckel: Art Forms in Nature" at the MBLWHOI library, curated by Ann Weissmann (http://www.mblwhoilibrary.org/haeckel/wallcharts/ammonitida.html).