Pierre Denys de Montfort

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A giant squid ( Architeuthis ) attacks a ship. Drawing by Pierre Denys de Montfort

Pierre Denys de Montfort (* 1766 or approx. 1768; † 1820) was a French naturalist and malacologist .

From 1802 to 1806 he published volumes 1–4 of the Histoire Naturelle Générale Et Particulière Des Mollusques, Animaux Sans Vertèbres Et À Sang Blanc of the new edition of Georges-Louis Leclerc de Buffon's Histoire Naturelle , which appeared in Paris. Volumes 5 and 6 were completed by Felix De Roissy. The first four volumes were also translated into German and were published in Hamburg. From the first volume of the famous image comes a squid of the genus Architeuthis , of attacking a ship.

Pierre Denys de Montfort was best known for his work Conchyliologie systématique: coquilles univalves, cloisonnées , which was published in two volumes from 1808 to 1810. It is one of the masterpieces of the early 19th century in the field of snails (Gastropoda), cephalopods (Cephalopoda) and foraminifera , which were then kept for a little cephalopod. According to the nomenclator Zoologicus, 226 genera can be traced back to him. However, there are also some older genres, the spellings of which were only slightly changed (or emended) by Montfort. Although these names are available, they are usually not valid names in the system . For some genres it is not clear whether they can really be ascribed to him, as he almost never cited earlier works (e.g. the fossil genus Lituites appears in exactly the same spelling in earlier publications by other scientists). Due to the very simplified woodcuts, many species and genera can no longer be identified today. A total of five genera in zoology were named after him; among others the Foraminifere Montfortella Loeblich & Tappan (1963) and the molluscs Montfortista Iredale (1929) and Montfortula Iredale (1915). Montfortia was even proposed twice by Récluz (1843) and Campana (1890), the latter genus is therefore invalid and has been replaced by another name.

He was also active in the field of bee research , such as the work Ruche à trois récoltes annuelles, fortifiée, économique, et son gouvernement, ou Moyen de mettre les abeilles à couvert contre les attaques de leurs ennemis ... (" Beehive with three annual harvests ... ") shows.

When France was occupied by Allied troops after Napoleon's defeat at Waterloo in 1815 , he gave a dictionary with the title: Petit vocabulaire à l'usage des Français et des Alliés, renfermant les noms d'une partie des choses les plus essentielles à la vie en plusieurs langues: français, latin, hébreu, hollandais, anglais, English, Spanish, Italy, etc. out. Personal descriptions also come from him.

Works

  • Pierre Denys de Montfort: Aux citoyens françois, professeurs et administrateurs du Muséum national d'histoire naturelle de Paris. Paris, De l'imprimerie de HJ Jansen, 1800.
  • Pierre Denys de Montfort: La Vie et les aventures politiques de Nadir-Mirza-Shah, Prince de Perse, ... 104 pp., Paris, Jansen 1800/1801.
  • Pierre Denys de Montfort: Histoire naturelle, generale et particuliere des mollusques, animaux sans vertebres et a sang blanc Addendum to Georges-Louis Leclerc de Buffon 4 volumes, Paris 1801-1804.
  • Pierre Denys de Montfort: Conchyliologie systématique, et classification méthodique des coquilles: offrant leurs figures, leur arrangement générique, leurs descriptions caractéristiques, leurs noms; ainsi que leur synonymie en plusieurs langues; ouvrage destiné à faciliter l'étude des coquilles, ainsi que leur disposition dans les cabinets d'histoire naturelle. Coquilles univalves, cloisonnées. Part 1. LXXXVII + 409 pp., Paris, Schoell; Haussmann, 1808.
  • Pierre Denys de Montfort: Coquilles univalves, non cloisonnées. Volume 2, 676 pp., Paris, Schoell, Haussmann & d'Hautel, 1810
  • Pierre Denys de Montfort: Ruche à trois récoltes annuelles, fortifiée, économique: et son gouvernement, ou, moyen de mettre les abeilles à couvert contre les attaques de leurs ennemis, en partageant avec elles chaque année, au printemps, en été et en automne , leur miel et leur cire, sans faire périr une seule mouche ... Paris, Audibert, 1813

References and comments

  1. ↑ The year of birth is uncertain. While the en: WP and fr: WP consistently indicate 1766, the French National Library only states "approx. 1768".
  2. ↑ The works are dated according to the French revolutionary calendar. This sometimes results in different information about the year.
personal data
SURNAME Montfort, Pierre Denys de
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Montfort, Denys de
BRIEF DESCRIPTION French naturalist and malacologist
DATE OF BIRTH 1766 or around 1768
DATE OF DEATH 1820