Jacques Millot

Jacques Millot (9 July 1897, Beauvais – 23 January 1980, Paris) was a French arachnologist, who also made significant contributions in the fields of ichthyology and ethnology.

Biography

He studied histology under Justin Marie Jolly at the Collège de France in Paris,Notice nécrologique sur Jacques Millot
Jean Dorst. (in French) earning his medical doctorate in 1922. In 1931 he became a professor of physiological anthropology, and in 1943, he was appointed chair of comparative anatomy at the Muséum national d’Histoire naturelle, a position he kept up until 1960.Prosopo
Sociétés savantes de France Afterwards, he was a professor of ethnology at the natural history museum as well as director of the Musée de l'Homme (1960–67).

In 1947 he was named director of the Institut scientifique de Madagasgar, and during the following year, became president of the ''Académie malgache'' (Malagasy Academy).IDRef.fr
bibliography He was a member of the Société zoologique de France; he served as its president in 1943.

Research

He is best known for his anatomical and histophysiological investigations of arachnids, that included intensive studies involving the silk glands of the genus ''Scytodes'' (spitting spiders). He also described metamerization in Chelicerata, and performed systematic reviews of various spider families — Sicariidae, Pholcidae, Thomisidae and Salticidae.

In 1952 he took charge of a project to locate the coelacanth in waters surrounding the Comoros archipelago. The fish was considered to be extinct for millions of years until a chance discovery in 1938. In late September 1953, a coelacanth was caught in waters near the port city of Mutsamudu, island of Anjouan (third discovered specimen overall). In 1954, five more specimens were captured. In 1958 he published a treatise on the anatomy of the coelacanth, titled ''Anatomie de Latimeria chalumnae''.

Taxa with the specific epithet of ''milloti'' honor his name; examples being '' Paracontias milloti'' Angel, 1949 (Nosy Mamoko skink), and '' Platypelis milloti'' Guibé, 1950 (Millot's froglet). With Lucien Berland, he described numerous species of spiders and the arachnid genera '' Afraflacilla'' and '' Bacelarella''.

Published works (selection)

He was director-founder of the ''Mémoires de l’Institut scientifique de Madagascar'' (1948) and founder of the journal ''Naturaliste malgache'' (1953).

* ''Contribution à l'histophysiologie des aranéides'', 1926 – Contribution involving the histophysiology of spiders.
* ''Cicatrisation et régénération'', 1931 – Cicatrization and regeneration.
* ''Biologie des races humaines'', 1952 – Biology of the human races.
* ''Le troisième Coelacanthe; historique, éléments d'écologie, morphologie externe, documents divers'', 1954 – The third coelacanth: historical, ecological factors, external morphology, documents.
* ''Anatomie de Latimeria chalumnae'', 1958–1978; 3 volumes (with Jean Anthony; Daniel Robineau) – Anatomy of ''Latimeria chalumnae''.OCLC WorldCat
Anatomie de Latimeria chalumnae

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Millot, Jacques
1897 births
1980 deaths
People from Beauvais
French arachnologists
20th-century French zoologists
National Museum of Natural History (France) people
20th-century French anthropologists