Summer Birds The Butterflies of Maria Merian
Maria Merian lived in Germany in the 1600s. She loved painting and was very curious about small living things. At the age of 13, she carefully observed silkworms from Asia (brought to Germany by merchants) as they changed from caterpillars to moths. The adults of her time thought that small living things like moths, butterflies, frogs, and beetles all were formed in the mud (through a process called "spontaneous generation"). They thought these creatures were evil. Maria's studies were far ahead of her time. She eventually became a scientist, an artist, and an explorer. She traveled to South America to study insects, plants, birds, and reptiles. Her paintings were published in books that helped others learn that butterflies, frogs, and other insects are not evil. They do not spring from the mud but rather come about through the natural process of metamorphosis.