#WorldFrogDay: Maybe this Surinam Horned Frog (Ceratophrys cornuta) wouldn't look so happy if it could read what naturalist George Shaw wrote about it in its description...
"Horned Frog" from The Naturalist's Miscellany, v.3, pl. 76 (1791-2) by George Shaw (English, 1751-1813). Biodiversity Heritage Library.
Here's what Shaw said: "Should inquiry be made, which is the ugliest animal yet known to exist? The creature here represented might perhaps with justice be proposed as an answer: an animal of such prodigious deformity as even to exceed in this respect the Surinam toad...." ☹️
#frog#Surinam Horned Toad#Horned Toad#Pacman Frog#herpetology#zoology#The Naturalist's Miscellany#George Shaw#natural history art#scientific illustration#sciart#historical sciart#zoological illustration#Biodiversity Heritage Library#illustration#book plate#lithograph#18th century art#British art#European art#animal holiday#World Frog Day#animals in art