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Scolopendra cetacea
Major collection: Hart Nautical
Named collection: Allan Forbes Collection
Object type: engraving
Maker: Bellagambam
Place made: Italy, Emilia-Romagna, Bologna, Bologna
Date made: 1613
Materials: ink; laid paper; color wash
Measurements: 14 in x 9 1/2 in
Nomenclature: natural history
Classification: whales
AF-NX-1633
Named collection: Allan Forbes Collection
Object type: engraving
Maker: Bellagambam
Place made: Italy, Emilia-Romagna, Bologna, Bologna
Date made: 1613
Materials: ink; laid paper; color wash
Measurements: 14 in x 9 1/2 in
Nomenclature: natural history
Classification: whales
Page 721 (verso 722) from the book "De cetis" (Liber 1) by Ulyssis Aldrovandi, first edition (1613). Hand-colored. Depicts "Scolopenda cetacea", a whale species which appeared in several natural history books of the period, but which is today considered to be mythical, with some suspecting that it arose from conflation of a cuttlefish or squid with a whale. The animal is depicted spouting. With text in Latin on verso, describing S. cetacea.
AF-NX-1633