 Potter 's source for the wildlife and the insect drawings in Mrs. Tittlemouse were those she had executed in her early adulthood , either directly from nature or by observing specimens in the collections of the Victoria and Albert Museum . The interest in the book 's illustrations lies in the microscopic accuracy of the insects rather than in any human qualities exhibited by Mrs. Tittlemouse or Mr. Jackson . Potter is uncharacteristically careless in the depiction of the insects however . They appear to be drawn for their own sake , or seem to be out of scale with the heroine , or to change scale without reason . The ladybird seems larger than Mrs. Tittlemouse , and the spider appears first larger than Mrs. Tittlemouse in one picture and then smaller in another . The bees are sometimes out of scale with both the toad and the mouse . 
