Description
The best c.19th image of the Flying Fox from John Gould’s famous series, The Mammals of Australia.
The first sighting of a flying Fox in Australia was noted by Joseph Banks at Endeavour River 1770 while Cook’s ship was being careened for repairs.
A seaman who had been in the woods described the animal he saw; it was about as large and much like a one gallon keg, as black as the Devil and had 2 horns on its head, it went but Slowly but I dard not touch it.
Gould was the first to systematically describe and order the animals of the Australian continent. He not only described many newly discovered species but recorded others that are now extinct. The Mammals of Australia is Gould’s rarest work with only 175 sets issued, many of which are in institutional collections. Gould started the series in 1845 and it wasn’t until 1863 that subscribers received all of the lithographs.
Common name: Spectacled Flying Fox
Modern binomial name: Pteropus conspicillatus
First described: Gould, 1850
Distribution: QLD S MOA Pg 435
Collections:
National Library Australia: Bib ID 760101
Royal Collection Trust UK: RCIN 1122360
State Library New South Wales: RB/LF0008/G SET
State Library Victoria: RARELTEF 599.0994 G73M
State Library South Australia: 599.0994 G697 d
