MERIAN, Maria Sibylla, a skilful drawer of insects and other subjects of natural history, was the sister of the preceding, and was born at Frankfurt-on-the-Main in 1647. She was instructed in drawing by Morell, her step-father, and Abraham Mignon, and soon displayed a notable taste and truthfulness in her sketches of flowers, butterflies, and caterpillars. In 1665 she was married to John Andrier Graff, a painter of Nuremberg, but was still known by her maiden name. Her studies and her scientific excursions were not interrupted, and the first result of her labours was published in 1679-83, under the title of The Origin of Caterpillars, their Nourishment and Changes, in 2 vols. 4to, Nuremberg. A Latin translation of this work appeared in Amsterdam in 1717. In 1684 she and her husband were induced by offers of patronage to settle in Holland. Maria Sibylla's enthusiasm for her art increased with her years. In 1699 she crossed the Atlantic with no attendant but her daughter, and spent two years at Surinam in sketching the insects, shells, and plants of the new world. A part of these sketches was published in her Dissertatio de Generatione et Metamorphosis Insectorum Surinamensium, Amsterdam, 1705. Maria Sibylla Merian died in 1717. A new edition of her last work was published soon after her death, with twelve plates by her two daughters. Her former work, enlarged by herself and her daughters, was published in French by John Marret, under the title of Histoire Générale des Insectes de l'Europe, folio, Amsterdam, 1730. These two corrected works were published together under the common title of Histoire des Insectes de l'Europe et de l'Amérique, folio, Paris, 1768-71.