122 Jacques Eustache de Sève (active 1742–1788) – Le Fer-à-Cheval (Horseshoe Bat) – Copperplate Engraving by Claude-Louis Desrais from Histoire Naturelle by Buffon (Late 18th Century)

This striking copperplate engraving features Le Fer-à-Cheval (the Horseshoe Bat), shown in two detailed views: one grounded (Fig. 1) and the other suspended upside-down by its feet (Fig. 2). The image is drawn with anatomical accuracy and an emphasis on the distinctive horseshoe-shaped nose structure typical of this bat species. It is taken from Histoire Naturelle, Générale et Particulière by Georges-Louis Leclerc, Comte de Buffon, and marked Tome VIII, Pl. LV. The illustration was drawn by Jacques Eustache de Sève and engraved by Claude-Louis Desrais, two of Buffon’s principal collaborators in the zoological volumes of the monumental natural history series.