Pierre Antoine Delalande (27 March 1787 – 27 June 1823) was a French

naturalist Natural history is a domain of inquiry involving organisms, including animals, fungi, and plants, in their natural environment, leaning more towards observational than experimental methods of study. A person who studies natural history is cal ...

taxidermist Taxidermy is the art of preserving an animal's body by mounting (over an armature) or stuffing, for the purpose of display or study. Animals are often, but not always, portrayed in a lifelike state. The word ''taxidermy'' describes the process ...

explorer Exploration is the process of exploring, an activity which has some Expectation (epistemic), expectation of Discovery (observation), discovery. Organised exploration is largely a human activity, but exploratory activity is common to most organis ...

and painter.Delalande, Pierre Antoine
at JSTOR Global Plants

Life

Pierre Antoine Delalande was the son of a taxidermist in the

National Museum of Natural History The National Museum of Natural History (NMNH) is a natural history museum administered by the Smithsonian Institution, located on the National Mall in Washington, D.C., United States. It has free admission and is open 364 days a year. With 4.4 ...

in Paris. He was employed at the museum from a young age, where he became an assistant of the naturalist

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 theorie ...

. He took painting classes from the Flemish animal painter

Jean-Baptiste Berré Jean-Baptiste Berré or Jan Baptist Berré Antwerp, 11 February 1777 – Paris, 6 May 1839) was a Flemish painter and sculptor.Jardin des Plantes The Jardin des Plantes (, ), also known as the Jardin des Plantes de Paris () when distinguished from other ''jardins des plantes'' in other cities, is the main botanical garden in France. Jardin des Plantes is the official name in the present da ...

and exhibited landscapes and animal paintings in the Salons of Paris. Delalande was employed by the National Museum of Natural History to collect natural history specimens. He accompanied the botanist

Augustin Saint-Hilaire Augustin François César Prouvençal de Saint-Hilaire (4 October 17793 September 1853) was a French botanist and traveller who was born and died in Orléans, France. A keen observer, he is credited with important discoveries in botany, notably th ...

in 1808 on a zoological collecting trip to Portugal, and was sent to the coast of Provence in 1813 to collect fishes and molluscs. He traveled to

Brazil Brazil, officially the Federative Republic of Brazil, is the largest country in South America. It is the world's List of countries and dependencies by area, fifth-largest country by area and the List of countries and dependencies by population ...

in 1816 to collect specimens for the museum. In 1818 he began an expedition to

South Africa South Africa, officially the Republic of South Africa (RSA), is the Southern Africa, southernmost country in Africa. Its Provinces of South Africa, nine provinces are bounded to the south by of coastline that stretches along the Atlantic O ...

with his nephew

Jules Verreaux Jules Pierre Verreaux (24 August 1807 – 7 September 1873) was a French botanist and ornithologist and a professional collector of and trader in natural history specimens. He was the brother of Édouard Verreaux and nephew of Pierre Antoine Delal ...

, who was around 12 years old at the time, to collect specimens. Delalande and Verreaux travelled and collected in South Africa for three years. On their return in 1821, they took back an astounding 131,405 specimens, mostly plant material. Their collection included 288 mammals, 2205 birds, 322 reptiles, 265 fish, 3875 shellfish, and various human skulls and skeletons from a

Cape Town Cape Town is the legislature, legislative capital city, capital of South Africa. It is the country's oldest city and the seat of the Parliament of South Africa. Cape Town is the country's List of municipalities in South Africa, second-largest ...

cemetery and from the 22 April 1819 Battle of

Grahamstown Makhanda, formerly known as Grahamstown, is a town of about 75,000 people in the Eastern Cape province of South Africa. It is situated about northeast of Gqeberha and southwest of East London. It is the largest town in the Makana Local Mun ...

between the British forces under Colonel Willshire and the

Xhosa Xhosa may refer to: * Xhosa people, a nation, and ethnic group, who live in south-central and southeasterly region of South Africa * Xhosa language, one of the 11 official languages of South Africa, principally spoken by the Xhosa people See als ...

under

Nxele Makhanda, also spelled Makana and also known as ''Nxele'' ("the left-handed"), ( – 25 December 1820) was a Xhosa indigenous doctor. He served as a top advisor to Chief Ndlambe. During the Xhosa Wars, on 22 April 1819, he initiated an aborti ...

. He is honoured in the specific names of the butterfly, '' Papilio delalandei'' ; the birds, '' Corythopis delalandi'', '' Coua delalandei'', and '' Stephanoxis lalandi'' ; the frog, '' Tomopterna delalandii'' ; the lizards, '' Chioninia delalandii'', ''

Nucras lalandii ''Nucras lalandii'', also known commonly as Delalande's sandveld lizard, Delalande's spotted lizard, and Laland's lizard, is a species of wall lizard in the family of true lizards (Lacertidae). The species is native to Southern Africa. Etymolo ...

'', and '' Tarentola delalandii'' ; and the blindsnake, ''

Rhinotyphlops lalandei ''Rhinotyphlops lalandei'', known commonly as Delalande's beaked blind snake, is a species of snake in the family Typhlopidae. The species is endemic to southern Africa. Etymology The specific name, ''lalandei'', is in honor of French naturalis ...

''.

References

Bibliography

* * * *

External links

* *
The Verreaux brothers
{{DEFAULTSORT:Delalande, Pierre Antoine Delalande, Pierre Antoine Delalande, Pierre Antoine Delalande 19th-century French explorers Burials at Père Lachaise Cemetery