{{Short description|French naturalist and explorer}} '''Alfred Duvaucel''' ({{IPA|fr|alfʁɛd dyvosɛl}}; 4 February 1793, Bièvres, Essonne – 1824, Madras, India) was a French naturalist and explorer. He was the stepson of Georges Cuvier and travelled in India and Southeast Asia as a collector of specimens for the Museum of Natural History in Paris.
== Early life and voyages == [[File:PlatanistaHardwicke.jpg|thumb|Drawing of Ganges river dolphin by Benjamin Waterhouse Hawkins, 1832]] Duvaucel was born in Bièvres just outside Paris to nobleman Louis Philippe Alexandre Du Vaucel, Marquis de Castelnau (1749–1794) and Anne Marie Sophie Coquet du Trazail (1764–1849). His father was a revenue collector for the king and was guillotined during the French Revolution in 1794. Two years later his mother married Georges Cuvier who adopted her children Alfred, Thélème (1788–1809), Antoinette Sophie Laure (1789–1867) and Martial (1794–1871), and instilled an interest in natural history in them. He was the youngest and he was closest to his sister Sophie, with Alfred and Martial dying young. Three of the children of Cuvier died in infancy. Duvaucel served briefly in military service in 1813, posted to Antwerp in 1814 as aide-de-camp to General Lazare Carnot, and resigned from it. In 1817 he was appointed as a naturalist to the King (Naturaliste du Roi). In December 1817, Duvaucel left Le Havre, France aboard the ''Seine'' under Captain Houssard for British India and arrived in Calcutta in May 1818, where he met Pierre-Médard Diard.<ref>{{cite book |title=Voyageurs, Explorateurs et Scientifiques. The French and Natural History in Singapore. |year=2019 |editor1=Low, M.E.Y. |pages=8–16 |editor2=Pocklington, K. |editor3=Jusoh, W.F.A. |publisher=Lee Kong Chian Natural History Museum}}</ref> Together, they moved to Chandernagore, then a trading post of the French East India Company, and started collecting animals and plants for the Paris Museum of Natural History. In their letters Diard and Duvaucel note the difficulties in employing Indians for work due to the restrictions of the caste system. The finally managed to get their cook to hunt, the gatekeeper to care for the garden, and for the server to catch fish for them. They employed hunters who supplied them daily with live and dead specimens, which they described, drew and classified. They also received objects from local ''rajahs'' and went hunting themselves. In the garden of their compound, they cultivated local plants and kept water birds in a basin. In June 1818, they sent their first consignment to Paris, containing a skeleton of a Ganges river dolphin, a head of a "Tibetan ox", various species of little-known birds, some mineral samples and a drawing of a ''tapir from Sumatra'' that they had studied in Hastings' menagerie. Later consignments included a live Cashmere goat, crested pheasants and various birds.<ref name="notice1">{{cite journal |author =Cuvier, G. |year=1821 |title=Notice sur les voyages de MM Diard et Duvaucel, naturalistes français, dans les Indes orientales et dans les îles de la Sonde |journal=Revue encyclopédique |volume=X |issue=Juin 1821 |pages=472–482 |url=https://archive.org/stream/revueencyclopd10pari#page/n487/mode/2up}}</ref><ref>{{cite journal |publisher=Société Asiatique |year=1824 |url=http://gallica.bnf.fr/ark:/12148/bpt6k93103v/f137.image.pagination.langEN |title=Notice sur le voyage de M. A. Duvaucel, dans l'Inde |author =Anonymous |journal=Journal Asiatique |volume=IV |issue= Mars 1824 |pages=137–145}}</ref>
In December 1818, Thomas Stamford Raffles invited them to accompany him on his journeys and pursue their collections in places where he would have to go officially. He offered to establish a menagerie in his Bencoulen residence. By end of December, they left with him on the basis they would equally share the collected animals. In Pulo-Pinang, they collected two new fish species and some birds. In Achem, they collected only a few plants, insects, birds, snakes, fish and two deer. In Malacca, they bought a bear, an argus and some other birds. In Singapore, they obtained a dugong, of which they prepared drawings and a description that Raffles sent to the Royal Society. These were published in 1820 by Everard Home and planned for publication in the ''Histoire naturelle des mammifères'' by Étienne Geoffroy Saint-Hilaire and Frédéric Cuvier. After their arrival at Bencoulen in August 1819, Raffles requisitioned most of their collection and left them copies of their drawings, descriptions and notes. Duvaucel and Diard took leave, sent their share to Calcutta and parted.<ref name="notice1"/>[[File:TapirSkelLyd2.png|thumb|Drawing of a skeleton of a Malayan tapir by Richard Lydekker, 1890s]] Duvaucel set off to Padang, and collected specimens of the Malayan tapir, Sumatran rhinoceros, several monkeys, reptiles, deer and axis in this area. He returned to Calcutta with several cases of stuffed animals, skeletons, skins and some live monkeys.<ref name="notice1"/>
He returned to Chandernagore, from where he made several excursions. In July 1821, he embarked on the Hooghly River, visited the cities of Hooghly and Guptipara, and moved on across the Ganges to Dacca. From there he traveled to Sylhet and, with permission of a Khasi king, explored the mountains of ''Cossy'' and ''Gentya'' north of Sylhet. He returned to Calcutta in December with a rich zoological collection, but since then he suffered from the jungle fever. He intended to set off to Tibet in September 1822.<ref name="notice2">{{cite journal |author =Cuvier, F. |year=1824 |url=https://archive.org/stream/revueencyclopd21pari#page/n269/mode/2up |title=Notices sur les voyages de M. Duvaucel |journal=Revue encyclopédique |volume= XXI|issue=Février 1824 |pages=257–267}}</ref><ref>{{cite journal |author =Anonymous |publisher=Société Asiatique |year=1824 |url=http://gallica.bnf.fr/ark:/12148/bpt6k93103v/f205.image.pagination.langEN |title=Notice sur le voyage de M. A. Duvaucel, dans l'Inde |journal=Journal Asiatique |volume=IV |issue= Avril 1824 |pages=200–213}}</ref> But due to political circumstances, he had to restrict his excursions to the territories of Benares in Bengal, and Kathmandu in "Nepaul". There is no record however that he ever traveled to Nepal,<ref>{{cite book|author =Weiss, C. |year=1841| url=http://gallica.bnf.fr/ark:/12148/bpt6k36707c/f480.image.pagination.r=Duvaucel.langEN |title=Biographie universelle, ou Dictionnaire historique contenant la nécrologie des hommes célèbres de tous les pays. Volume 2 |publisher= Furne |place=Paris |page=469}}</ref> and the editor of the ''Journal of the Asiatic Society of Bengal'' noted in 1836 that two of Duvaucel's collectors lived for a year with Brian Houghton Hodgson at Kathmandu.<ref>{{cite journal|url=https://archive.org/stream/journalofasiatic05asia#page/242/mode/1up|title=Note on the Cervus Duvaucelii of Cuvier, or C. Elaphoides and Bahraiya of Hodgson|pages=240–242|journal=Journal of the Asiatic Society of Bengal|volume =5|year=1836|author =Anonymous}}</ref>
== Death == Duvaucel died in August 1824 in Madras, but his obituary was not published until April 1825.<ref>{{cite journal |author =Anonymous |year=1825 |url=http://gallica.bnf.fr/ark:/12148/bpt6k105927p/f274.image.pagination |title=Nécrologie: Duvaucel |journal=Revue encyclopédique |volume=XXVI |issue= Avril 1825 |page=274}}</ref> Ten years later, rumours were afloat in France that he was mauled by a tiger within minutes.<ref>{{cite book |author =Eyriès, J. B. |author2=Malte-Brun, C. |year=1835 |url=http://gallica.bnf.fr/ark:/12148/bpt6k69831v/f1.pagination.r=Duvaucel.langEN |title=Nouvelles annales des voyages, de la géographie et de l'histoire. Volume 66, Troisième série. |publisher=Gide fils, Arthus Bertrand. Paris |page=376}}</ref> According to letters that Duvaucel wrote to Jean-Jacques Coulmann (1796–1870), the actual cause is now known to have been an attack by an Indian rhinoceros. On 24 January 1823 he was in a place near Rajmahal at "Sielygalli" (Sakrigali) where he was shooting a rhinoceros when another individual attacked him. He was left with a wound in the thigh and unable to walk. His assistants transported him on oxcart to Sakrigali from where he went to Bhagalpur 50 km away. He was treated by a Scottish surgeon and then he travelled to Calcutta. He then moved to Madras where he died from weakness and dysentery.<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Rookmaaker |first=Kees |date=2019 |title=Mauled by a rhinoceros: the final years of Alfred Duvaucel (1793-1824) in India |url=https://bioone.org/journals/zoosystema/volume-41/issue-1/zoosystema2019v41a14/Mauled-by-a-rhinoceros--the-final-years-of-Alfred/10.5252/zoosystema2019v41a14.full |journal=Zoosystema |volume=41 |issue=1 |pages=259 |doi=10.5252/zoosystema2019v41a14 |issn=1280-9551}}</ref>
== Publications == In February 1820, the ''Asiatick Society (Calcutta, India)'' published an article jointly written by Duvaucel and Diard entitled "Sur une nouvelle espèce de Sorex — Sorex Glis" including a drawing of a common treeshrew.<ref>Diard, P.M., Duvaucel, A. (1820) [https://books.google.com/books?id=ICgoAAAAYAAJ&dq=Sur+une+nouvelle+espece+de+Sorex%2C+Sorex+Glis&pg=PA472 "Sur une nouvelle espèce de Sorex — Sorex Glis"]. Asiatick researches, or, Transactions of the society instituted in Bengal, for inquiring into the history and antiquities, the arts, sciences, and literature of Asia, Volume 14. Bengal Military Orphans Press, 1822</ref>
In spring 1822, the ''Asiatick Society'' published his article "On the Black Deer of Bengal" including a drawing of a deer species that he had observed in Bengal, Sumatra, and in the mountains north of Sylhet.<ref>Duvaucel, A. (1822) [https://books.google.com/books?id=ASgoAAAAYAAJ&dq=Du+Vaucel+Asiatic+researches&pg=PA157 "On the Black Deer of Bengal"]. Asiatick researches, or, Transactions of the society instituted in Bengal, for inquiring into the history and antiquities, the arts, sciences, and literature of Asia, Volume 15. Bengal Military Orphans Press, 1825</ref>
== Legacy == The Paris Museum of Natural History received nearly 2000 animals collected jointly by Duvaucel and Diard during their stay of more than a year in the Greater Sunda Islands. Their consignments comprised 88 mammal species, 630 bird species, 59 reptile species and contained stuffed animals, skins, skeletons, drawings and descriptions of such notable species as the Malayan tapir, Sumatran rhinoceros, Javan rhinoceros, gibbons, leaf monkeys, two previously unknown fruit bat species, tree shrews, skunks, binturong and sun bear.<ref name="notice3">{{cite journal |publisher=Société Asiatique |year=1824 |author =Anonymous |url=http://gallica.bnf.fr/ark:/12148/bpt6k931046/f287.image.pagination.langEN |title=Troisieme Notice sur le voyage de M. A. Duvaucel, dans l'Inde, ayant pour objet plus particulier, l'histoire naturelle |journal=Journal Asiatique |volume=IV |issue= Novembre 1824 |pages=277–285}}</ref> Several of these species were first described by French zoologists working at the museum. Anselme Gaëtan Desmarest described the Malayan tapir in 1819; the Sunda stink badger and ''Paradoxurus hermaphroditus bondar'', a subspecies of the Asian palm civet in 1820; the Sunda pangolin, the Malayan weasel and the genus of ''Semnopithecus'' in 1822.
In 1821, Raffles published descriptions of the species jointly collected by Duvaucel and Diard in Sumatra, including first descriptions of the sun bear, the binturong, the crab-eating macaque, the Sumatran surili, the siamang gibbon, the silvery lutung, the large bamboo rat, the large treeshrew and the cream-coloured giant squirrel.<ref>{{cite journal |author =Raffles, T. S. |year=1821 |title=Descriptive Catalogue of a Zoological Collection made on account of the Honourable East India Company, in the Island of Sumatra and its Vicinity, under the Direction of Sir Thomas Stamford Raffles, Lieutenant-Governor of Fort Marlborough; with additional Notices illustrative of the Natural History of those Countries. |journal=The Transactions of the Linnean Society of London |volume= XIII |pages=239–340 |publisher=Linnean Society of London |url=https://archive.org/stream/transactionsofli13lond#page/238/mode/2up}}</ref>
The many drawings, skeletons, skins and other animal parts that Duvaucel sent to the Paris Museum of Natural History included head, skin and paws of a species ''from the mountains north of India'' that his stepfather's brother Frédéric Cuvier described as ''Ailurus fulgens'' in 1825.<ref>Cuvier, F. (1825) [https://archive.today/20130113043700/http://www.redpandas.org/biology/archives/1825/histoire-naturelle-des-mammifere "Ailurus. Ailurus fulgens. Panda".] (archived from [http://www.redpandas.org/biology/archives/1825/histoire-naturelle-des-mammifere the original] on January 13, 2013) 3 pages, 1 plate. In: Geoffroy Saint-Hilaire, E.; Cuvier, F. (eds.) ''Histoire naturelle des Mammifères, avec des figures originales, coloriées, dessinées d'après des animaux vivans: publié sous l'autorité de l'administration du Muséum d'Histoire naturelle'' (50). A. Belin, Paris</ref><ref>Cuvier, Georges (1829) ''Le règne animal distribué d'après son organisation, Tome 1'' Chez Déterville, Paris [https://archive.org/stream/lergneanimaldi01regn#page/138/mode/2up/search/panda book preview page 138: ''Le Panda éclatant'']</ref>
Alfred Duvaucel is commemorated in the scientific names of a number of species: * the barasingha ''Cervus duvaucelii'' — described by his stepfather Georges Cuvier in 1823;<ref>Cuvier, G. (1823). [https://archive.org/details/bub_gb_A0IAAAAAQAAJ/page/n511 <!-- pg=505 --> ''Recherches sur les ossemens fossiles de quadrupèdes'']. Nouvelle édition, Tome Quatrième. Dufour & d'Ocagne, Paris, Amsterdam.</ref> * the scarlet-rumped trogon ''Harpactes duvaucelii'' — described by Coenraad Jacob Temminck in 1824; * the river lapwing ''Vanellus duvaucelii'' — described by Rene Primevere Lesson in 1826; * the Himalayan goral ''Naemorhedus duvaucelii'' — described by Charles Hamilton Smith in 1827 is synonymous to ''Naemorhedus goral'' described in 1825 by Thomas Hardwicke;<ref>Wilson, D. E., Reeder, D.M. (2005) Mammal species of the world: a taxonomic and geographic reference, Volume 1 [https://books.google.com/books?id=JgAMbNSt8ikC&dq=Naemorhedus+duvaucelii&pg=PA706 page 706: ''Naemorhedus goral''] Johns Hopkins University Press, 2005</ref> * the ''Pachysoma duvaucelii'', a subspecies of the lesser short-nosed fruit bat — described by Isidore Geoffroy Saint-Hilaire in 1828; * the moth ''Psichotoe duvaucelii'' — described by Jean Baptiste Boisduval in 1829;<ref>{{cite book |author=Boisduval, J. P. |year=1829 |chapter=''Psichotoe duvaucelii'' |title=Essai sur une Monographie des Zygénides, suivi du tableau méthodique, des Lépidoptéres d'Europe |location=Bruxelles |publisher=Méquignon-Marvis, Crochard |page=129, plate 8 |chapter-url=https://archive.org/stream/essaisurunemonog00bois#page/129/mode/1up}}</ref> * Duvaucel's barbet ''Megalaima australis duvaucelii'' — first described as ''Bucco duvauceli'' by René Primevère Lesson in 1831 as living in Sumatra;<ref>Lesson, R.P. (1831) ''Traité d'ornithologie, ou, Tableau méthodique des ordres, sous-ordres, familles, tribus, genres, sous-genres et races d'oiseaux'' [https://archive.org/stream/traitdornitholo00lessgoog#page/n199/mode/2up page 164: Barbu de Duvaucel ''Bucco duvauceli''] F.G. Levrault, Paris</ref> relegated a subspecies of ''Xantholæma duvaucelii'' described by Thomas Horsfield and Frederic Moore in 1856 as inhabiting the Malayan Peninsula and Sumatra;<ref>Horsfield, T. (1856) [https://archive.org/stream/acataloguebirds00musegoog#page/n210/mode/2up A Catalogue of the Birds in the Museum of the Hon. East-India Company], Vol. II, page 647. WM H. Allen and Co., London</ref> latter was renamed ''Megalaima duvaucelii'' by Frederic Moore in 1859<ref>Moore, F. (1859) [https://archive.org/stream/proceedingsofzoo1859zool#page/454/mode/2up List of Malayan Birds collected by Theodore Cantor ''Megalaima duvaucelii''] ''Proceedings of the Zoological Society of London'' (Volume 1859), page 455. Zoological Society of London</ref> and subordinated to ''Mesobucco duvauceli'' by George Ernest Shelley in 1891;<ref>Catalogue of the birds in the British Museum [https://archive.org/stream/catalogueofbirds19briti#page/84/mode/2up ''Mesobucco duvauceli''] Volume XIX, page 85. British Museum (Natural History), London</ref> the bird is now a valid subspecies of the blue-eared barbet;<ref>Integrated Taxonomic Information System [https://www.itis.gov/servlet/SingleRpt/SingleRpt?search_topic=TSN&search_value=685856 ''Megalaima australis duvaucelii'']</ref> * Duvaucel's cuckoo ''Bubutus duvaucelii'' — described by Lesson in 1831 as living in Sumatra;<ref>Lesson, R.P. (1831) ''Traité d'ornithologie, ou, Tableau méthodique des ordres, sous-ordres, familles, tribus, genres, sous-genres et races d'oiseaux'' [https://archive.org/stream/traitdornitholo00lessgoog#page/n177/mode/2up page 143: Boudou de Duvaucel ''Bubutus duvaucelii''] F.G. Levrault, Paris</ref> subordinated to the genus ''Rhinortha'' by Shelley in 1891 as a type of Raffles's malkoha;<ref>Shelley, G.E. (1891) Catalogue of the birds in the British Museum [https://archive.org/stream/catalogueofbirds19briti#page/392/mode/2up Rhinortha] Volume XIX, page 393. British Museum (Natural History), London</ref> * the Indian squid ''Loligo duvaucelii'' — described by Alcide d'Orbigny in 1835 is a synonym of ''Uroteuthis duvauceli'';<ref>Global Biodiversity Information Facility [http://data.gbif.org/species/13734694/ ''Uroteuthis duvauceli'']</ref> * Duvaucel's gecko ''Hoplodactylus duvaucelii'' — described by André Marie Constant Duméril and Gabriel Bibron in 1836;<ref>Beolens, Bo; Watkins, Michael; Grayson, Michael (2011). ''The Eponym Dictionary of Reptiles''. Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press. xiii + 296 pp. {{ISBN|978-1-4214-0135-5}}. ("Duvaucel", p. 79).</ref> * the Indian bee species ''Macrocera duvaucelii'' — described by Amédée Louis Michel Lepeletier in 1842 is synonymous to ''Tetralonia duvaucelii'';<ref>Gray, J. E. (1853) Catalogue of hymenopterous insects in the collection of the British Museum. Part II Apidæ [https://archive.org/stream/catalogueofhymen02brituoft#page/302/mode/2up page 302: ''Tetralonia Duvaucelii'']. British Museum, London</ref> * the freshwater fish ''Rohita duvaucelii'' — described by Achille Valenciennes in 1842 is a junior synonym of ''Osteobrama vigorsii'' endemic to India;<ref>FishBase 2010 [http://fishbase.se/Nomenclature/SynonymSummary.php?ID=54824&GSID=29026&Status=synonym&Synonymy=junior%20synonym&Combination=original%20combination&GenusName=Rohita&SpeciesName=duvaucelii&SpecCode=13189&SynonymsRef=4832&Author=Valenciennes,%201842&Misspelling=0 ''Rohita duvaucelii'' Valenciennes, 1842]</ref> * the olive barb ''Barbus duvaucelii'' — described by Valenciennes in 1842 is a junior synonym of ''Puntius sarana'';<ref>FishBase 2010 [http://fishbase.se/Nomenclature/SynonymSummary.php?ID=154336&GSID=60646&Status=synonym&Synonymy=junior%20synonym&Combination=original%20combination&GenusName=Barbus&SpeciesName=duvaucelii&SpecCode=13197&SynonymsRef=41236&Author=Valenciennes,%201842&Misspelling=0 ''Barbus duvaucelii'' Valenciennes, 1842]</ref> * the pool barb ''Leuciscus duvaucelii'' — described by Valenciennes in 1844 is a junior synonym of ''Puntius sophore'';<ref>FishBase 2010 [http://fishbase.se/Nomenclature/SynonymSummary.php?ID=155697&GSID=30235&Status=synonym&Synonymy=junior%20synonym&Combination=original%20combination&GenusName=Leuciscus&SpeciesName=duvaucelii&SpecCode=10137&SynonymsRef=41236&Author=Valenciennes,%201844&Misspelling=0 ''Leuciscus duvaucelii'' Valenciennes, 1844]</ref> * the nase ''Chondrostoma duvaucelii'' found near Madras — first described by Valenciennes in 1844;<ref>Catalog of fishes 2011 [http://research.calacademy.org/redirect?url=http://researcharchive.calacademy.org/research/Ichthyology/catalog/fishcatmain.asp ''Chondrostoma duvaucelii''] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121018121049/http://research.calacademy.org/redirect?url=http%3A%2F%2Fresearcharchive.calacademy.org%2Fresearch%2FIchthyology%2Fcatalog%2Ffishcatmain.asp |date=2012-10-18}} California Academy of Sciences Research</ref> * ''Felis Duvaucelli'' — described by Brian Houghton Hodgson in 1852, was renamed ''Felis charltoni'' by Thomas Horsfield in 1856;<ref>Horsfield, T. (1856) [https://archive.org/stream/lietuvostsrmoksl56liet#page/396/mode/2up ''Catalogue of a collection of Mammalia from Nepal, Sikim, and Tibet, presented to the Hon. East India Company by B. H. Hodgson, Esq., in 1853'']. Proceedings of the Zoological Society of London, Part XXIV: 396</ref> and classified a subspecies of ''Pardofelis marmorata'' by Reginald Innes Pocock in 1932;<ref>{{cite book|author=Pocock, R. I. |year=1939|url=https://archive.org/stream/PocockMammalia1/pocock1#page/n327/mode/2up |title=The Fauna of British India, Including Ceylon and Burma. Mammalia. – Volume 1.|publisher= Taylor and Francis|place= London}}</ref> * ''Cyanops duvauceli robinsoni'' — named by Edward Charles Stuart Baker in 1918 as inhabiting the Malay Peninsula, Thailand and Myanmar,<ref>{{cite journal|author=Baker, E.C. Stuart|year=1918|url=https://archive.org/stream/bulletinofb3840191720brit#page/n157/mode/2up |title=''Cyanops duvaceli robinsoni''|journal=Bulletin of the British Ornithologists' Club|volume=29|page=20}}</ref> is another name for the blue-eared barbet. <gallery> File:Tupaia glis -Artis Zoo, Amsterdam, Netherlands-8b.jpg|''Tupaia glis'' The barasingha.jpg|''Cervus duvaucelii'' Scarlet-rumped Trogon (Harpactes duvaucelii) - pair.jpg|''Harpactes duvaucelii'' Uroteuthis duvauceli.jpg|Drawing of ''Uroteuthis duvauceli'' Duvaucel's gecko.JPG|''Hoplodactylus duvaucelii'' </gallery> == References == {{Reflist}}
==External links== * [http://www.tmbl.gu.se/libdb/taxon/personetymol/petymol.d.html Biographical Etymology of Marine Organism Names. D]
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Duvaucel, Alfred}} Category:1793 births Category:1824 deaths Category:People from Évreux Category:19th-century French naturalists Category:19th-century French explorers