Leonard Dupont
Léonard Puech Dupont(10 January 1796 – 7 February 1828) was a French naturalist, explorer, collector and trader of natural history specimens.
Dupont was born inBayeux, Normandyto wigmaker Jean-Antoine Puech dit Dupont and Marie-Françoise Badin. An older sibling died at the age of three and his younger brotherRichard Henryor Henri (known also as Dupont jeune) also became a naturalist. Their mother was a conchologist with a large collection of shells. The family moved to Paris and Leonard began to collect specimens and was a regular at theJardin des Plantes,interacting with other naturalists. and working for sometime as a specimen preparator. In 1818 he was hired byJoseph Ritchiefor an expedition into Africa along the Niger river. Ritchie and Dupont were also joined by George Francis Lyon (1795–1832) and John Belford. Dupont resigned from the group at Tripoli on 7 February 1819. The group had to disguise themselves as Muslims and Leonard took the name of Mourad but refused to be circumcised and fell afoul of Ritchie. This left Leonard stranded without money and he had to be repatriated by the French consul. Returning to France with a large set of specimens which were sold to naturalists resulted in several new species being described including Dupont's larkChersophilus duponti.[1]
Dupont publishedTraite ́de taxidermie, ou l’art de conserver et d’empailler les animaux(1823) which was reviewed byVieillot.He died in 1828 and an unlocated grave monument was described by Caplin.[1][2]
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Preparation of specimens -
Mounted specimens
References[edit]
- ^abMearns, Richard; Chevrier, Laurent; Gouraud, Christophe (2016)."The Dupont family: collectors, dealers and naturalists in nineteenth-century Paris".Archives of Natural History.43(2): 191–207.doi:10.3366/anh.2016.0378.ISSN0260-9541.
- ^Caplin (1829). "Notice sur Leonard Puech Dupont".L'Athenée, memorial des sciences, des lettres et des arts.1:178–181.