Jules Pierre Verreaux (24 August 1807 – 7 September 1873) was a French botanist and

ornithologist Ornithology is a branch of zoology that concerns the "methodological study and consequent knowledge of birds with all that relates to them." Several aspects of ornithology differ from related disciplines, due partly to the high visibility and th ...

and a professional collector of and trader in natural history specimens. He was the brother of

Édouard Verreaux Jean Baptiste Édouard Verreaux (16 September 1810 – 14 March 1868) was a French naturalist, taxidermist, collector, and dealer. Botanist and ornithologist Jules Verreaux was his older brother. Career In 1830, Verreaux travelled to South ...

and nephew of

Pierre Antoine Delalande Pierre Antoine Delalande (27 March 1787 – 27 June 1823) was a French naturalist, taxidermist, explorer and painter. Verreaux worked for the family business, Maison Verreaux, established in 1803 by his father, Jacques Philippe Verreaux, at

Place des Vosges The Place des Vosges (), originally Place Royale, is the oldest planned square in Paris, France. It is located in the '' Marais'' district, and it straddles the dividing-line between the 3rd and 4th arrondissements of Paris. It was a fashionabl ...

in Paris, which was the earliest known company that dealt in objects of natural history. The company funded collection expeditions to various parts of the world. Maison Verreaux sold many specimens to the

Muséum National d'Histoire Naturelle The French National Museum of Natural History, known in French as the ' (abbreviation MNHN), is the national natural history museum of France and a ' of higher education part of Sorbonne Universities. The main museum, with four galleries, is loc ...

to add to its collections. In 1830, while travelling in modern-day

Botswana Botswana (, ), officially the Republic of Botswana ( tn, Lefatshe la Botswana, label= Setswana, ), is a landlocked country in Southern Africa. Botswana is topographically flat, with approximately 70 percent of its territory being the Kal ...

, Verreaux witnessed the burial of a Tswana warrior. Verreaux returned to the burial site under cover of night to dig up the African's body where he retrieved the skin, the skull and a few bones. Verreaux intended to ship the body back to France and so prepared and preserved the African warrior's corpse by using metal wire as a spine, wooden boards as shoulder blades and newspaper as a stuffing material. Then he shipped the body to Paris along with a batch of stuffed animals in crates. In 1831, the African's body appeared in a showroom at No. 3, Rue Saint Fiacre. He was later known as Negro of Banyoles, and was returned and buried in Botswana. Verreaux travelled to Australia in 1842 to collect

plant Plants are predominantly photosynthetic eukaryotes of the kingdom Plantae. Historically, the plant kingdom encompassed all living things that were not animals, and included algae and fungi; however, all current definitions of Plantae excl ...

s. He returned to France in 1851 with a natural history collection reported to contain 15,000 items. In 1864 he took over from

Florent Prévost Florent Prévost (1794 – 1 February 1870) was a French naturalist and illustrator. Prévost was assistant naturalist at the Muséum National d'Histoire Naturelle. He was the author of various zoological works, including ''Les Pigeons par Madame ...

as assistant naturalist at the Paris Museum. Verreaux also worked in China and South Africa, where he helped Andrew Smith found the South African Museum in

Cape Town Cape Town ( af, Kaapstad; , xh, iKapa) is one of South Africa's three capital cities, serving as the seat of the Parliament of South Africa. It is the legislative capital of the country, the oldest city in the country, and the second largest ...

in 1825.

Legacy

He is commemorated in the names of: *

Verreaux's eagle Verreaux's eagle (''Aquila verreauxii'') is a large, mostly African, bird of prey. It is also called the black eagle, especially in southern Africa, not to be confused with the Indian black eagle (''Ictinaetus malayensis''), which lives far to ...

(''Aquila verreauxii)'', *

Verreaux's eagle-owl Verreaux's eagle-owl (''Bubo lacteus''), also commonly known as the milky eagle owl or giant eagle owl, is a member of the family Strigidae. This species is widespread in sub-Saharan Africa. A member of the genus ''Bubo'', it is the largest Afric ...

(''Bubo lacteus)'', *

Verreaux's coua Verreaux's coua (''Coua verreauxi'') is a species of cuckoo in the family Cuculidae. It is endemic to Madagascar. According to a BBC documentary, it is found only near a salt lake in the southern part of the island. The lake is 16 km long ...

(''Coua verreauxi)'', * Verreaux's sifaka (''Propithecus verreauxi)'', *the

white-tipped dove The white-tipped dove (''Leptotila verreauxi'') is a large New World tropical dove. Its scientific name commemorates the French naturalists Jules and Edouard Verreaux. Distribution and habitat The dove is a resident breeder from southernmo ...

(''Leptotila verreauxi)'', *the golden parrotbill (''Paradoxornis verreauxi)'', *Verreaux's skink ('' Anomalopus verreauxii)'', and the *Andaman giant gecko ('' Gekko verreauxi)''. (''Gekko verreauxi'', new species, p. 546). *The Southern Conger Eel '' Conger verreauxi'' Kaup, 1856 is also named after him.

References

External links

{{DEFAULTSORT:Verreaux, Jules 1807 births 1873 deaths 19th-century French zoologists 19th-century naturalists French naturalists French ornithologists French taxonomists French zoologists