Author: Popofsky, A. [W. K.]
Title: Die Acantharia der Plankton-Expedition. Teil I: Acanthrometra. Teil II: Acanthophracta. [Complete].
Description: Kiel und Leipzig, Lipsius & Tischer, 1904-1906. Two parts in two. 4to (32.1 x 26.2 cm). Two title pages each; 318 pp. [158; 160]; 28 [12; 16] lithographed plates, including one in chromolithography an two coloured maps; one large, multifolding table. Later uniform grey buckram with gilt title on the spine and original front wrappers mounted on the front boards. Speckled edges. = A rarely seen monograph of Atlantic Acantharia (Protozoa). With excellent illustrations. Part of the Ergebnisse der in dem Atlantischen Ocean von Mitte Juli bis anfang November 1889 ausgeführten Plankton-Expedition der Humboldt-Stiftung (Band III, part L. f. a, and Band III, part L. f. ß). The author, the German zoologist and microscopist Arthur Willy Karl Popofsky (1882- [after] 1933) also made the fine illustrations, reminiscent of the work by Ernst Haeckel. "Popofsky’s species descriptions and illustrations were generally of a high quality and are much more detailed than the very brief descriptions of earlier workers, such as Ehrenberg and Haeckel. ... Popofsky continued the ‘evolutionary’ tradition established by Haeckel, and discussed possible evolutionary series and transformations of characters" (Lazarus, p. 15). Provenance: pictorial bookplate of the Bibliotheca Universitatis Sancti Andreae on the front pastedown of the first volume, with cancellation stamp of the same library. Some wear to the front board, otherwise a very good, clean set. Lazarus, D. (2012) The legacy of early radiolarian taxonomists, with a focus on the species published by early German workers. Journal of Micropalaeontology 33: 1-19); Nissen ZBI, 4624.

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