The Conchological Collections of Bruguière and Olivier from the Ottoman Empire (1792-1798)

By Simon Tillier and Peter Mordan

Introduction

In 1792, the then French Ministre de l’Intérieur, Jean-Marie Roland, took the decision to send a scientific expedition to the Middle East. Bruguière and Olivier were selected to carry out the mission and spent a total of six years travelling. Bruguière died on the return journey, but Olivier was able to bring back many important collections including nearly one hundred species of land and freshwater Mollusca. These collections were deposited in the Museum National d’Histoire Naturelle, Paris (MNHN), where they have remained since that time.

Basic biographic information on Bruguière and Olivier has been taken from Theodorides (1962), Lamy (1930), and Silvestre (1815); additional information is taken from various archives cited in the text.

The Life of Bruguière

Jean-Guillaume Bruguière was born in 1749 in Montpellier. The son of a surgeon, he was awarded his Doctorate of Medicine at Montpellier in 1770. He never practiced, but went to Paris to study botany. In 1773 he took part, as a zoologist, in Kerguélen’s second expedition to the austral lands, and collected molluscs and vertebrates in Madagascar. The expedition failed to colonise the Kerguelen Islands (which Kerguélen himself had referred to as ‘la France australe’) and Kerguélen was condemned to jail. As a result no natural history reports of this expedition were ever published. The shells were acquired from Bruguière’s widow by the MNHN in 1799 (Archives nationales F17/3905), but were relabelled in such a way that it is practically impossible to recognise them in the collections.

By 1774 Bruguière was back in Montpellier where, in 1776, he was elected an associate member of the Botanical Section of the Société des Sciences et Belles-Lettres. He tried to develope coal mining in the area and at the same time became interested in fossils; it was probably during this period that he got to know Olivier and Broussonet. Pierre Marie Auguste Broussonet had been awarded his Doctorate of Medicine in 1779 in Montpellier at the age of 18, as a result of which it was proposed that he succeed his father as Professor at the University. However, his nomination was refused because of his age, and he went to England where he worked with Banks on the Cook fishes. There he met the Intendent de Paris, Berthier de Sauvigny, and it was with his help that, on his return to Paris, Broussonet was appointed secretary of the Société d'Agriculture. Here Broussonet regularly met with a number of Parisian naturalists, among them Daubenton whom he introduced to Bruguière. When Daubenton was later asked to describe the Vermes in the Encyclopédie Méthodique he entrusted the task to Bruguière. Bruguière had arrived in Paris in 1781 and all that is known of the next few years is that he tried to travel to the West Indies and South America: on the 8th March, 1784, he wrote a letter from Montpellier asking for funds (Archives de l’Institut). In 1787 he was nominated for the post of Botanist in Saint-Domingue, but Louis Claude Marie Richard, who was Botanist in Cayenne, obtained the position and Bruguière was indemnified (Archives nationales, Ministére des Colonies, E54). Although a Republican, he lost most of his income at the onset of the French Revolution (letter, 26.6.1791, Archives de l'Institut). In 1792 Bruguière collaborated with his friends Lamarck and Olivier in starting the Journal d'Histoire Naturelle, but he was probably near the end of his financial resources when Olivier proposed their journey to the Middle East.

The Life of Olivier

(Image courtesy of Wikipedia)

Guillaume-Antoine Olivier was born near Toulon in 1756. The son of a physician, he studied medicine with Broussonet in Montpellier, obtaining his Doctorate in 1776. He had been interested in botany and entomology from this time and wished to join Broussonet in Paris, but his father refused him the necessary funds and he was forced to practice as a physician near Montpellier. In 1783, Berthier de Sauvigny wished to obtain various statistics on his intendancy. Broussonet recommended Olivier for the job, enabling him at last to join Broussonet in Paris. In 1789, on the very day of the taking of the Bastille, Berthier de Sauvigny was assassinated and his house sacked; only a part of Olivier's manuscript was saved.

Gigot d'Orcy, Receveur General des Finances and an amateur entomologist, wished to publish an account of the natural history of insects. He employed Olivier who travelled to England and Holland, and it was probably during this period that he met Thomas Martyn in London (letter of recommendation, undated, Museum MS 1998 (II), Fol. 235). In 1789 and 1790 he published the first two volumes of the Histoire naturelle des Coléoptères for Gigot d'Orcy, and simultaneously, thanks to Daubenton's recommendation, collaborated in the Dictionnaire de l'Histoire naturelle des Insectes, Papillons, Crustacés, etc... Olivier lost his position when Gigot d'Orcy was guillotined. In 1792 he collaborated in the Journal d'Histoire Naturelle. During this time Broussonet had been appointed a deputy at the Etats Généraux, and later at the Convention, where he had joined the Girondist party. This party was at the height of its power at the end of 1792, and it was probably easy for Broussonet to obtain from Roland, also a Girondist, permission to send his friends Bruguiére and Olivier to the Middle East.

Olivier returned from the voyage alone, but with the collections, in 1798. As early as January, 1799, he was elected an associate member of the Institut de France, and replaced Daubenton as a full member in the Section of Anatomy and Zoology in March, 1800. The account of the journey to the Middle East was published between 1802 and 1807, either as three 4o volumes or six 8o volumes, plus an atlas, under the title: Voyage dans l'Empire Ottoman, l'Egypte et la Perse, fait par ordre du Gouvernment, durant les six premières années de Ia Republique. He was appointed to the examining board of the Veterinary School of Alfort in 1809, and Professor of Zoology there in 1811. However, he was by then a sick man and died from a heart attack in Lyon in 1814 at the age of fifty-eight.

The Voyage in the Ottoman Empire

Bruguière and Olivier left Paris in November, 1792. Their mission was originally to collect natural history objects, but was later to become diplomatic; France was under attack from the rest of Europe, and the French government decided to re-establish relations with Persia, which at that time was at war with Russia. They set sail for Istanbul on the 22nd April, 1793, arriving one month later. During the journey the French ambassador had been recalled, and his replacement had to wait nine months for his instructions from Paris. As a result, Bruguière and Olivier decided to visit the eastern Mediterranean; they travelled along the Turkish coast and visited the Greek archipelago and Egypt, returning to Istanbul in April, 1795. Despite the blockade against French ships, they were able to send seeds back to the Muséum during this period (letter sent to Thouin from Alexandria, 3rd Prairial An III, Archives de l'Institut). In Istanbul they met the new ambassador who was able to give them instructions for the Persian government. They travelled to the Syrian coast, and in Aleppo joined a caravan to Baghdad, arriving there on the 25th April, 1796. The continuation of their journey was greatly facilitated by Olivier's ability to cure a certain Pacha Suleyman of an illness in only three days, when he had been considered at the point of death by his own physicians; the vice Pacha, who had assumed his master's title during his illness, was executed!

Bruguière and Olivier left Baghdad on the 18th May, 1796, with a caravan bound for Kermanshah where they joined a Persian officer who was to act as their guide to Tehran. They visited the rock inscription of Darius at Bisotun and climbed Mount Alvand. During the last stage of the journey to Tehran, where they arrived on the 2nd July, Bruguière was taken seriously ill. At this time the king, Aga Mohammed Khan, was away attempting to conquer Khorasan. Bruguière and Olivier at first wanted to join him there, but finally waited, and when he returned on the 20th September he granted them an interview with the Prime Minister.

At this point they decided to start their return journey. They visited Qom and Esfahan, and arrived back in Kermanshah on the 1st December. Between Kermanshah and Baghdad Olivier was wounded by Kurdish bandits. Although they wished to return to Europe as quickly as possible, they were detained in Baghdad until May, 1797, by the chief janissary whom they were curing of venereal disease. They finally left Baghdad, travelling to Latakia via Aleppo; the journey lasted from May to the beginning of September. They were able to sail to Cyprus and then Gilindire on the south coast of Turkey, and travelled through Turkey to Istanbul. Here they rested for five months while they gathered together their collections. Further travel was delayed as a result of the English policy against France, and they were only able to sail from Istanbul in May, 1798. On the journey they visited Athens and Corfu, and arrived at Ancona in Italy on the 19th September. Bruguière, who had apparently felt rather better since their stay in Istanbul, developed a strong fever and died on the 3rd October, 1798. Olivier returned alone with the collections, finally reaching Paris in December, 1798.

The Mollusc Collections

Hamy (1908) states that Olivier deposited the collections in the MNHN on the 14th Prarial, an VIII, i.e. 3rd June, 1800. On the 25th September the same year, the aide-naturaliste Desjardins produced a report describing the poor state of preservation of the collection, which he considered to be at risk. In 1819 the then aide-naturaliste Valenciennes established an inventory of the Olivier shells housed in the MNHN (Archives nationales AJ 15/550). This lists 74 non-marine species (including 57 land snail species), many of them indicated as new, and including most of the types described by Olivier. In November, 1820 Férussac produced a manuscript catalogue of the land shells preserved in the MNHN (Laboratoire de Malacologie, MNHN). This catalogue forms the first manuscript of the Prodrome published in 1821. It mentions only 22 species as having been collected by Olivier, whereas in the text of the Prodrome 47 species of land snail are named as communicated by Olivier. At present the MNHN collections include two sets of samples labelled as collected by Olivier: one is labelled ‘M. Olivier, 1819’ and fits Férussac’s inventory of 1820; the second was acquired as part of the Férussac Collection in 1837, and is in agreement with the Prodrome. It can thus be deduced that most of Olivier's land shells were acquired by Férussac from the MNHN between March, 1819, and November, 1820. They may have been given, exchanged, sold or even bequeathed to Férussac by Olivier; this last possibility is suggested by Bourguignat (1853) who unfortunately does not cite his sources, and who was sometimes unreliable. Whatever happened, it is clear that the collection of shells brought back from the ‘Voyage dans l'Empire Ottoman’ has remained housed in the MNHN since 1837.

Taxa Described from Olivier’s material

Six authors utilised the molluscan collections made by Olivier and Bruguiére for the description of new taxa:

1. Olivier himself described and figured 22 species in the first and second livraisons of the account of their travels, published in 1801 and 1804. According to Bourguignat (1853), Olivier simply transcribed Bruguière's notes; although this is quite probable, it is based solely on Bourguignat's personal opinion.
2. Cuvier described Parmacella as a new genus (type species Parmacella olivieri) in 1804 from specimens collected by Olivier in Mesopotamia.
3. In 1821, Férussac introduced 23 new names based on Olivier's material; these were progressively validated either by Féussac himself or by other authors. These names and their types will not be treated here, but in a separate paper.
4. Bourguignat (1853) described five new species of Unio from Olivier's material; two were given by Bourguignat as Férussac manuscript names. This is confirmed by the labels, but the authority of all five must be attributed to Bourguignat.
5. Lamarck, as professor, and responsible for the collections of molluscs from 1793 to 1829, used Olivier’s material for his work. Only one new Lamarckian name based on these shells has been traced, i.e. Cyrena cor.
6. Cailliaud described several new species of Egyptian molluscs between 1823 and 1827, but apparently based only one, Cyrena consobrina, on Olivier's material. Cailliaud, most of whose types are housed in the MNHN, associated with Férussac, de Blainville, and Deshayes. Indeed, the labels of his types suggest that the species which he described were named by Férussac (it may be noted that he never wrote ‘I name this species...’, but rather ‘This species was named...’). It is therefore highly probable that his descriptions were based on Olivier's material as well as his own, but he mentions this only in the case of Cyrena consobrina.

List of Types

Taxa are listed hereafter in alphabetic order of specific name. Many lots are listed as ‘probable syntypes’ as the modern type concept did not exist in the first half of the nineteenth Century. Specimens were often relabelled and the original label destroyed as soon as a synonymy was established. The absence of any type concept is also the reason why so many types are missing from the older museums; curators did not hesitate to give away or exchange the type specimens when they had obtained a better-preserved specimen thought to belong to the same species. Most of the Bourguignat types are listed here as ‘probable holotype’ as he never mentions the number of specimens in his possession and it is no more than probable that there was a single type specimen in each case. No lectotypes are selected here as we consider this to be the responsibility of a revisor, not a curator. Where appropriate, comments on the current taxonomic status and geographical distribution of the species have been included.

zebrula Férussac 1821, Helix, pl.5, fig. 5
Férussac 1821, p. 70. nom. nov. for Bulimus zebra Olivier 1801, non Bruguière 1792.

Plate 5.

Fig. 1. Pila ovata (Olivier), syntype (H=64 mm).
Fig. 2. Melanoides fasciolata Olivier, syntype (H=21.5 mm).
Fig. 3. Lanistes carinata (Olivier), syntype (D35.5 mm).
Fig. 4. Planorbis orientalis Olivier, probable syntype (D=10.7mm).
Fig. 5. Chondrus zebrula (Férussac), syntype (H 17mm).
Fig. 6. Bellamya unicolor(Olivier) , syntype (H=23 mm).
Fig. 7. Cleopatra bulimoides (Olivier), syntype (H=8.2 mm).
Fig. 8 Zebrina fasciolata (Olivier), syntype from Rhodes (H=22.8 mm).
Fig. 9. Albinaria torticollis (Olivier), syntype (H=12 mm).
Fig. 10. Jaminia (Multidentula) ovularis (Olivier), syntype (H=6 mm).
Fig. 11. Melanopsis buccinoidea (Olivier), probable syntype (H=29 mm).
Fig. 12. Lacinaria (Denticularia) denticulata (Olivier), syntype? from the mixture including the type series, from Khios or Gemlik (cf. Pl. 6 Fig. 10). H=14.5 mm.

 

Plate 6.

Fig. 1. Helix mahometana Bourguignat = Helix castanea Olivier non Müller, probable syntype (H=41.5 mm).
Fig. 2. Levantina (Assyriella) guttata (Olivier), syntype (D=33.5 mm).
Fig. 3. Levantina spiriplana (Olivier), adult syntype (see also Fig. 6). D=30 mm.
Fig. 4. Trochoidea (Xeroptyca) crenulata (Olivier) (non Helix crenulata Müller), syntype (D=12.3 mm).
Fig. 5. Sphincterochila (Rima) cariosa (Olivier), syntype (D=19.5 mm).
Fig. 6. Levantina spiriplana (Olivier), juvenile syntype depicted by Olivier (D=21.5mm) (see also Fig. 3).
Fig. 7. Albinaria teres (Olivier), syntype (H21.6 mm).
Fig. 8. Albinaria inflata (Olivier), ‘elongated’ syntype (H=22.8 mm).
Fig. 9. Albinaria inflata (Olivier), ‘inflated’ syntype (H= 17.8mm).
Fig. 10. Lacinaria (Denticularia) denticulata (Olivier), syntype? from the mixture including the type series (cf. Pl. 5 Fig. 12). (H= 16.2 mm.)
Fig. 11. Albinaria retusa (Olivier), syntype (H=14.4 mm).

 

Plate 7.

Fig. 1. Leguminaia (Pseudodontopsis) euphratica (Bourguignat), probable holotype (length=70mm).
Fig. 2. Unio bagdadensis Bourguignat, probable holotype (length=57.5mm).
Fig. 3. Unio tigridis Bourguignat, probable holotype (length=59.6 mm).
Fig. 4. Leguminaia (Leguminaia) tripolitana (Bourguignat), probable holotype (length=70.6mm).
Fig. 5. Unio bruguierianus Bourguignat = Unio orientalis Bourguignat non Lea, figured syntype (length=48 mm).

Photos by A. Foubert

References

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—. 1853. Catalogue raisonné des Mollusques terrestres et fluviatiles recueillis par M. F. de Saulcy pendant son voyage en orient. Baudry, Paris: 96 pp., 4 pl.

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