These wonderful illustrations come from Chronologischer Raupenkalender, oder, Naturgeschichte der europäischen Raupen (1837), an entomological volume by Christian Friedrich Vogel outlining which caterpillars appear each month, as well as details on how to keep caterpillars and catch the butterflies into which they will transform. An added quirk of the book will be more immediately obvious to German speakers — Vogel means “bird”, the caterpillar’s main predator.
You can see all the exquisite illustrations at The Public Domain Review.
Lovely bit of dazzle camouflage on the ‘pilla’ on the bottom. That one could’ve been the model for it.
Wow. I wonder if that interesting unidentified caterpillar that rq sent last year could be identified using this.
Actually, it isn’t.
Vogel is such a common surname that it is so unremarkable for a native German that you don’t even see the “bird” behind it, so to speak.