Castelnau, Francis de la Porte (1810 - 1880)

Summary

Francis de la Porte Castelnau was a leader of French scientific expeditions and was French consul in Melbourne at the time of his death. A collection of his monographs on insects, written in his youth, were published as Histoire Naturelle between 1835 and 1841.

Details

Born London, 25 December 1810. Died Melbourne, 4 February 1880. Studied natural science in Paris. Led a French scientific expedition to study the lakes of Canada, US and Mexico 1837-41; in 1843-47 an expedition led by him was the first to cross South America from Peru to Brazil, following the watershed between the Amazon and the Rio de la Plata systems and collecting specimens; French consul, Bahia, Brazil, from 1848; French consul, Siam ca 1848-62 (and the first European to study the country's fishes); arrived Melbourne 1862; French consul in Melbourne 1864-80. Active member of the Zoological and Acclimatisation Society of Victoria and of the Entomological Society of New South Wales. The genus Laportea (tropical stinging tree) was named after him, as were many insects and fishes.

Archival resources

Mitchell and Dixson Libraries Manuscripts Collection, State Library of New South Wales

• Edward Pearson Ramsay - Records, 1860 - 1912, ML MSS 563; Mitchell and Dixson Libraries Manuscripts Collection, State Library of New South Wales. Details

Published resources

Resources

• Wikidata, http://www.wikidata.org/entity/Q741590. Details
• VIAF - Virtual International Authority File, OCLC, https://viaf.org/viaf/19775535. Details
• 'Castelnau, Francis (18101225-18800204)', Trove, National Library of Australia, 2009, https://nla.gov.au/nla.party-914592. Details

See also

• Science and the making of Victoria, with Royal Society of Victoria, 2001, http://www.austehc.unimelb.edu.au/smv/index_c.html. Details