This vintage drawing of a louse bug was made using a wood cut plate on a printing press. The louse has two-legs with crab-like appendages to hold onto the hair of its host – as shown in the drawing. These loathsome critters are among the quickest to reproduce of all the animal kingdom. In eight weeks, a single louse can see 5,000 descendents.
He’s creepy and crawly and copyright free.
The History of Insects was published in 1813 without identifying an illustrator. Which is truly a shame because the work is full of wonderful insect drawings like this one.
This image is copyright free and in the public domain anywhere that extends copyrights 70 years after death or at least 120 years after publication when the original illustrator is unknown.
