Artist and Commissioner

In describing and illustrating all of Victoria's bryozoans, MacGillivray was faced with an enormous task. His previous taxonomic papers had limited usefulness, due to brief text and relatively unsophisticated figures, however Prodromus production opened the way to publish more detailed descriptions and far better images.

MacGillivray took full advantage: by the time Decade 20 of the Prodromus was published, 309 bryozoan species and varieties had been described, including 26 new species. Bryozoans dominate 61 plates of the Prodromus; a testament to the hard work and perseverance of MacGillivray and his associates, rather than the group's relative abundance in nature or significance in the marine ecosystem.

Field samples from collectors were sorted and identified into different species, from which MacGillivray prepared written descriptions. He initially relied on Melbourne-based Edward Gilks for all the drawings and lithography required to complete the plates published up to 1879. While the original ink drawings are exquisitely rendered, some detail was unfortunately lost through the lithographic process.

MacGillivray later took over the task of drawing, commissioning fellow Bendigo citizen James Ripper to assist. Both possessed the keen eye, good microscope technique and first-rate drawing skills required to clearly show each species' characteristic details.

From 1879 to 1881, drawings were entrusted to Arthur Bartholomew, McCoy's assistant and a skilled artist in his own right, to complete the lithography in Melbourne. Lithography work was handed over to James Ripper in Bendigo from 1882-1890, allowing MacGillivray to keep a much tighter rein on both the process and results. Published images from 1879 to 1890 show a trend toward larger, bolder and clearer figures.

The process was brought to a standstill with the termination of the Prodromus project in 1890. It must have been a severe blow to MacGillivray, with the publication of so many bryozoan species still to come. He died in 1895, but his scientific accounts in the Prodromus remain a landmark work on this marine group.