Marie Jules César Lelorgne de Savigny (; 5 April 1777 – 5 October 1851) was a French

zoologist Zoology ()The pronunciation of zoology as is usually regarded as nonstandard, though it is not uncommon. is the branch of biology that studies the animal kingdom, including the structure, embryology, evolution, classification, habits, and d ...

. Savigny was born at

Provins Provins () is a commune in the Seine-et-Marne department in the Île-de-France region in north-central France. Known for its well-preserved medieval architecture and importance throughout the Middle Ages as an economic center and a host of annu ...

. In 1798 he travelled to

Egypt Egypt ( ar, مصر , ), officially the Arab Republic of Egypt, is a transcontinental country spanning the northeast corner of Africa and southwest corner of Asia via a land bridge formed by the Sinai Peninsula. It is bordered by the Medite ...

with the Emperor

Napoleon Napoleon Bonaparte ; it, Napoleone Bonaparte, ; co, Napulione Buonaparte. (born Napoleone Buonaparte; 15 August 1769 – 5 May 1821), later known by his regnal name Napoleon I, was a French military commander and political leader wh ...

as part of the French scientific expedition to that country, and contributed to the publication of the findings of the expedition in 1809 (''

Description de l'Égypte The ''Description de l'Égypte'' ( en, Description of Egypt) was a series of publications, appearing first in 1809 and continuing until the final volume appeared in 1829, which aimed to comprehensively catalog all known aspects of ancient and m ...

''; published more fully in 1822). He wrote about the fauna in the

Mediterranean Sea The Mediterranean Sea is a sea connected to the Atlantic Ocean, surrounded by the Mediterranean Basin and almost completely enclosed by land: on the north by Western and Southern Europe and Anatolia, on the south by North Africa, and on ...

and the

Red Sea The Red Sea ( ar, البحر الأحمر - بحر القلزم, translit=Modern: al-Baḥr al-ʾAḥmar, Medieval: Baḥr al-Qulzum; or ; Coptic: ⲫⲓⲟⲙ ⲛ̀ϩⲁϩ ''Phiom Enhah'' or ⲫⲓⲟⲙ ⲛ̀ϣⲁⲣⲓ ''Phiom ǹšari''; ...

. He is also known for proposing a theory that the mouth-parts of insects are homologous with

locomotory organ Animal locomotion, in ethology, is any of a variety of methods that animals use to move from one place to another. Some modes of locomotion are (initially) self-propelled, e.g., running, swimming, jumping, flying, hopping, soaring and gliding. Th ...

s (e.g. legs).

Education and travel to Egypt

At age 16, Savigny traveled from his home of

, in the

department Department may refer to: * Departmentalization, division of a larger organization into parts with specific responsibility Government and military *Department (administrative division), a geographical and administrative division within a country, ...

Seine et Marne Seine-et-Marne () is a department in the Île-de-France region in Northern France. Named after the rivers Seine and Marne, it is the region's largest department with an area of 5,915 square kilometres (2,284 square miles); it roughly covers its ...

, to

Paris Paris () is the capital and most populous city of France, with an estimated population of 2,165,423 residents in 2019 in an area of more than 105 km² (41 sq mi), making it the 30th most densely populated city in the world in 2020. S ...

to finish his studies. Being very interested in

botany Botany, also called , plant biology or phytology, is the science of plant life and a branch of biology. A botanist, plant scientist or phytologist is a scientist who specialises in this field. The term "botany" comes from the Ancient Greek w ...

, he worked at 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 ...

'' with

Jean-Baptiste Lamarck Jean-Baptiste Pierre Antoine de Monet, chevalier de Lamarck (1 August 1744 – 18 December 1829), often known simply as Lamarck (; ), was a French naturalist, biologist, academic, and soldier. He was an early proponent of the idea that biolog ...

and

Georges Cuvier Jean Léopold Nicolas Frédéric, Baron Cuvier (; 23 August 1769 – 13 May 1832), known as Georges Cuvier, was a French naturalist and zoologist, sometimes referred to as the "founding father of paleontology". Cuvier was a major figure in na ...

. Cuvier suggested to

that the 21-year-old Savigny should follow him as zoologist to

. Savigny became responsible for studying

invertebrates Invertebrates are a paraphyletic group of animals that neither possess nor develop a vertebral column (commonly known as a ''backbone'' or ''spine''), derived from the notochord. This is a grouping including all animals apart from the chordate ...

, while

Étienne Geoffroy Saint-Hilaire Étienne Geoffroy Saint-Hilaire (15 April 177219 June 1844) was a French naturalist who established the principle of "unity of composition". He was a colleague of Jean-Baptiste Lamarck and expanded and defended Lamarck's evolutionary theories. ...

took care of the

vertebrates Vertebrates () comprise all animal taxa within the subphylum Vertebrata () ( chordates with backbones), including all mammals, birds, reptiles, amphibians, and fish. Vertebrates represent the overwhelming majority of the phylum Chordata, ...

. After returning to Paris, in 1802, Savigny started to work on the large collections from Egypt, producing a number of manuscripts and plates. In 1805 he published ''Histoire naturelle et mythologique de l'ibis'' (Natural and mythological history of the

ibis The ibises () (collective plural ibis; classical plurals ibides and ibes) are a group of long-legged wading birds in the family Threskiornithidae, that inhabit wetlands, forests and plains. "Ibis" derives from the Latin and Ancient Greek word f ...

). As a botanist he described the genus '' Bruguiera'' (Savigny in Lam. 1798) and dozens of plant species.

Later years

By 1817, Savigny's eyesight had deteriorated, and he had to stop working for a number of years. Between 1816 and 1820 he published the important ''Mémoires sur les animaux sans vertèbres'' (Memoires on the animals without vertebrae). After returning to work in 1822, his eyesight continued to worsen, and by 1824 he became more-or-less blind, with terrible "optical hallucinations." Victor Audouin offered to complete Savigny's work but Savigny refused to part with the original artwork. Savigny was elected member of the

Academy of Science An academy of sciences is a type of learned society or academy (as special scientific institution) dedicated to sciences that may or may not be state funded. Some state funded academies are tuned into national or royal (in case of the Unite ...

on 30 July 1821.

Species and genera named for Savigny

Genera

*'' Savignya'' (family

Brassicaceae Brassicaceae () or (the older) Cruciferae () is a medium-sized and economically important family of flowering plants commonly known as the mustards, the crucifers, or the cabbage family. Most are herbaceous plants, while some are shrubs. The leav ...

) DC. *'' Savignyella'' DC. *'' Savignia'' Blackwall, 1833

Species

*'' Acanthodactylus savignyi'' Audouin, 1809 *'' Anachis savignyi'' Moazzo, 1939 *''

Ciona savignyi ''Ciona savignyi'' is a marine animal sometimes known as the Pacific transparent sea squirt or solitary sea squirt. It is a species of tunicates in the family Cionidae. It is found in shallow waters around Japan and has spread to the west coa ...

'' Herdman, 1882 *'' Diadema savignyi'' (Audouin, 1809) *'' Embia savignyi'' Westwood, 1837 *'' Goniopora savignyi'' ( Dana, 1846) *'' Hyla savignyi'' Audouin, 1827 *'' Leptochelia savignyi'' ( Krøyer, 1842) *''

Loimia savignyi ''Loimia'' is a genus of annelids belonging to the family Terebellidae. The genus has cosmopolitan distribution. Species: *'' Loimia annulifilis'' *'' Loimia arborea'' *'' Loimia armata'' *'' Loimia bandera'' *'' Loimia batilla'' *'' Loim ...

'' M'Intosh, 1885 *'' Microcosmus savignyi'' Monniot, 1962 *'' Ophiactis savignyi'' J. Müller & Troschel *'' Planaxis savignyi'' Deshayes, 1844 *'' Pusia savignyi'' ( Payraudeau, 1826) *'' Sepia savignyi'' H. de Blainville, 1827 *'' Siderastrea savignyana'' H. Milne Edwards & Haime, 1850 *'' Dynamenella savignii'' H. Milne Edwards, 1840 *'' Thais savignyi'' (Deshayes, 1844) *'' Trapelus savignii'' A.M.C. Duméril & Bibron, 1837 *'' Trididemnum savignii'' ( Herdman, 1886)

Synonyms and rejected names

*'' Savignya'' Desor, 1855 *'' Vexillum savignyi'' (Payraudeau, 1826)

References

External links

Marie-Jules-César Lelorgne de Savigny (1777-1851)
Archives Départementales de Seine-et-Marne (biography in French) {{DEFAULTSORT:Savigny, Marie Jules Cesar 1777 births 1851 deaths People from Provins Commission des Sciences et des Arts members French ornithologists Members of the French Academy of Sciences Members of the Prussian Academy of Sciences National Museum of Natural History (France) people