Velvet Seastar, Petricia vernicina

Full colour proof of a Velvet Seastar, Petricia vernicina, from Sorrento, Port Phillip, Victoria, by Dr. John James Wild. This work was commissioned by Frederick McCoy, the first Director of The National Museum of Victoria, for unpublished Plate 249 in The Prodromus of the Zoology of Victoria; Figures and descriptions of the living species of all classes of the Victoria indigenous animals. This plate forms part of the much larger Prodromus Collection. Many of the original illustrations and prints in the collection informed the production of The Prodromus, the first major publication of the National Museum of Victoria. Between 1878 and 1890, McCoy published his zoology 'Prodromus' as 20 parts in two volumes, with each part comprising 20 plates. Unfortunately, almost 90 plates in the collection remain unpublished, and hundreds of illustrations were either not completed or not printed.