Scientific Illustration

Scientific illustration has been around for centuries, to document new findings in the natural world.Charles Darwin used illustration to record what curiousities he found on his travels, and there is a large online record of his illustrations here.
In Charles Darwin's time, photography was not advanced enough to catalogue species that he had found, so accurate illustration was important. Nowadays, photography is more likely to be used to document new species.Thus, if someone in this century decides to make a scientific illustration, the chances are that the purpose is for the benefit of art and not science.
Here are some archived illustrations from the past 250 years:

Fossils, Harvard University
Pierre Joseph Prunus Domestica1801-19
Anatomy of the hand Clorion1830

Fossils, Harvard University

Natural History Museum, London
Colour plate Verzeichniss meiner Insecten-Sammlung Jakob Sturm, Nürnberg1796
There are some great sources for scientific illustration online at the moment. I'm following the Scientific Illustration Tumblr and have added the BioDivLibrary on Flickr for a hit of natural history every day.

Labels: Anatomy, Archive, Biodiversity Heritage Library, Botanical, Butterfly, Charles Darwin, Fossils, Illustration, Insect, Insects, London, Natural History Museum, Prune, Tumblr, Zoology