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Cover Legend: “Coral Tree with Emperor Moth and Caterpillar,” Plate 11, Metamorphosis Insectorum Suraniamensium, Maria Sibylla Merion (1647–1717), The Hague, 1705. Maria Sibylla Merian's success as a respected scientist, painter, and entrepreneur was nothing short of a miracle. She was born in Frankfurt at a time when Galileo's trial for heresy (1633) was still a fresh reminder of the power of the Church. Her field was entomology, with a special interest in the life cycle and morphology of caterpillars and the host plants on which they fed. In an era when the concept of metamorphosis went against Church dogma and insects were considered “beasts of the devil,” Merian's three scholarly publications established her as a pioneer in the field. Her most famous book was a study of flora and fauna of Suriname, a Dutch colony on the northeast coast of South America. Merian, aged 52, set out on the two-year expedition, funded by profits from her successful shop in Amsterdam. The resulting publication, a compendium of scientific and cultural information, became a landmark, consulted by Alexander Von Humboldt (1769–1859) for his explorations in South America and cited by Linnaeus over 100 times. Czar Peter the Great purchased 300 of Merian's watercolors on vellum for his famous cabinet of curiosities. More recently, after years of neglect, Merian has regained her rightful place in the history of naturalist illustration and has become a feminist icon. The illustration on our cover is one of sixty hand-colored copperplate engravings from the Suriname treatise. It is influenced by the Dutch still-life tradition: a combination of flowers, foliage, and an insect thrown in to enliven the scene. For Merian the insect is the main attraction. The life cycle of the giant silk moth is traced from chrysalis to adult. The host plant undergoes a similar metamorphosis, from budding flowers to moth-eaten leaves, a clear intimation of death. Merian's overall view, however, is of a vibrant, lively ecosystem. In this image, metamorphosis of the insect, in contact with the budding flowers of youth, alludes to bone marrow cells undergoing reprogramming after meeting embryonic stem cells. Image courtesy MBL/WHOI Library, Woods Hole, Massachusetts; legend by Ann Weissmann, Exhibitions Curator.