Marie Firmin Bocourt

Delalande's Coua, chromolithic print by Bocourt et Fagnet (produced for Alfred Grandidier's ”L`Histoire Politique, Physique Et Naturelle De Madagascar”).

Marie Firmin Bocourt (19 April 1819 4 February 1904) was a French zoologist and artist born and died in Paris.

As a young man, he worked as a preparateur for the zoologist Gabriel Bibron (18051848), later serving as a museum artist. In 1861, he was sent to Thailand (then called Siam), where he explored the fauna and brought back an important collection of specimens.[1]

He collaborated with Auguste Duméril (18121870) on a series called Mission scientifique au Mexique et dans l'Amérique Centrale, a result of Bocourt's scientific expedition to Mexico and Central America in 18641866. Dumeril died in 1870, and the project was continued by Bocourt with assistance from Léon Vaillant (18341914), François Mocquard (18341917) and Fernand Angel.[2][3] With Vaillant, he published a study on fishes, Études sur les poissons, that was included in Mission scientifique au Mexique et dans l'Amérique Centrale).[4]

As an artist, he specialized in engravings, doing portraits of contemporary people as well as zoological illustrations.

He has a number of zoological specimens named after him; including:

References

  1. The Eponym Dictionary of Reptiles by Bo Beolens, Michael Watkins, Michael Grayson
  2. Softcover, Antiquariaat Junk; (Adler. History of Herpetology, pp. 43/44).
  3. World Cat Titles Etudes sur les reptiles et les batraciens
  4. WorldCat Titles Études sur les poissons
  5. USGS Callinectes bocourti
  6. The Reptile Database Phoboscincus bocourti
  7. Reptile Database Tantilla bocourti