The taxa depicted in E J.C. Esper's "Die Pflanzenthiere in Abbildungen nach der Natur" (1788 -1830) and its "Fortsetzungen" (1794 -1806) with a combined index to both worksl

The author was successful in locating in European and North American libraries the Lieferung wrappers to Eugen Johann Christoph Esper's "Die Pflanzenthiere" (1788 - 1830) as well as to his "Fortsetzung der Pflanzenthiere" (1794 - 1806). These wrappers were generally thrown away when the accumulated Lieferungen were bound together into their respective Theilen. The value of the information given on these wrappers resides in the fact that the plates and their respective descriptions were not issued simultaneously; it is only through the Lieferungen wrappers that the relationships of dates between the text and the plates can be determined with certainty. Indeed, the dates attributed to the Theile are superfluous for taxonomic considerations since these Theile are composed of individual Lieferungen most of which were issued prior to the actual date borne on the Theile title pages. Thus, the information provided by the Lieferungen title pages is critical and of inestimable value to the systematist and taxonomist. The author gives the dates of issue, the collation of pagination, both numerically and by signatures, as well as a list of taxa and their respective plates for each Lieferung. For these two publications, a combined alphabetical index also is given 1) to the taxa, 2) to their respective plates, and 3) to the respective Lieferungen in which the plates were issued.