Latreille, PIERRE ANDRÉ

Latreille, PIERRE ANDRÉ, French naturalist, was born, 29th November 1762, at Brives, in the department of Corrèze. Though he completed his education for the church, he gave himself chiefly to entomological studies. In 1798 he was commissioned to arrange the entomological collections in the Museum of Natural History at Paris, and in 1830 was appointed to the chair of Natural History (along with De Blainville) in the same institution. He died at Paris on 6th February 1833. In 1796 he published his great work, Précis des Caractères Générals des Insectes—an important step towards a truly natural system of entomology. The more important of his other works are the Salamandres (1800), Singes (1801), Crustacés et Insectes (14 vols. 1802-5), Reptiles (1802), Genera Crustaceorum et Insectorum (4 vols. 1806-9), Considérations sur l'Ordre Naturel des Animaux (1810), Familles Naturelles du Règne Animal (1825), and Cours d'Entomologie (2 vols. 1831-33).