Name/Title
CE 1657 John Jonston, Marine Invertebrates and “Zoophytes” (Tab. XX)Description
John Jonston (1603–1675)
After Matthäus Merian the Elder (1593–1650)
From Historiae naturalis
Amsterdam: Johannes Jacobus Schipper, 1657
Copper engraving on paper with hand coloring
Plate XX
This plate presents an assortment of marine organisms classified under several early modern categories, including forms historically described as zoophytes. The figures include soft-bodied and sessile organisms whose biological relationships were difficult for early naturalists to determine.
“Zoophyte,” literally “animal-plant,” was used for organisms that appeared to occupy an uncertain position between animals and plants. Sponges, corals, tunicates, and other unfamiliar marine organisms presented particular problems because many lacked the obvious movement and anatomical structures Europeans ordinarily associated with animals.
The plate consequently documents an important classificatory problem in early modern natural history. Its categories should not be translated directly into modern zoological groups; rather, they show how naturalists attempted to organize organisms according to the anatomical and behavioral evidence then available to them.
Jonston incorporated these forms into his broader survey of animal life. This impression was published in Amsterdam in 1657.Create Date
August 8, 2026Update Date
September 6, 2026
