Haeckel - Die Radiolarien

In 1862, Haeckel published a collection of 35 copper plate etchings of images of radiolarians in Die Radiolarien (Rhizopoda radiolarian) - Eine Monographic.     The variety of shape and form within this scarcely known group of protozoa is incredible – shapes resembling moon landers, samurai and spiders webs are found.  Haeckel’s draftmanship is quite stunning, not only the details and composition, but his ability to capture the complex 3-dimension form of these organisms – Plates 21 and 24 are fine examples.  The images are available on the Web , but there are gradients in the background which is a persistent problem scanning from a bound volume.  Images of excellent quality are available in the publication Art Forms from the Oceans, published by Prestel (ISBN 978-3-7913 3327-4) and is very good value for money.