Albert-Auguste Fauvel (7 November 1851, in

Cherbourg-en-Cotentin Cherbourg-en-Cotentin () is a city in the department of Manche, Normandy, northwestern France, established on 1 January 2016.

– 3 November 1909, in Cherbourg) was a French naturalist, known for providing the first detailed description of the

Chinese alligator The Chinese alligator (; ), also known as the Yangtze alligator (), China alligator, or historically the muddy dragon, is a crocodilian endemic to China. It and the American alligator (''A. mississippiensis'') are the only living species in the ...

. In 1872 he joined the

Chinese Maritime Customs Service The Chinese Maritime Customs Service was a Chinese governmental tax collection agency and information service from its founding in 1854 until it split in 1949 into services operating in the Republic of China on Taiwan, and in the People's Republ ...

Peking } Beijing ( ; ; ), alternatively romanized as Peking ( ), is the capital of the People's Republic of China. It is the center of power and development of the country. Beijing is the world's most populous national capital city, with over 21 ...

. Later on, he was based in

Chefoo Yantai, formerly known as Chefoo, is a coastal prefecture-level city on the Shandong Peninsula in northeastern Shandong province of People's Republic of China. Lying on the southern coast of the Bohai Strait, Yantai borders Qingdao on the ...

, from where he spent several years investigating the natural history of

Shantung province Shandong ( , ; ; alternately romanized as Shantung) is a coastal province of the People's Republic of China and is part of the East China region. Shandong has played a major role in Chinese history since the beginning of Chinese civilizati ...

. In 1877 he relocated to

Shanghai Shanghai (; , , Standard Mandarin pronunciation: ) is one of the four direct-administered municipalities of the People's Republic of China (PRC). The city is located on the southern estuary of the Yangtze River, with the Huangpu River flow ...

, and in 1882–84 was stationed in

Hankou Hankou, alternately romanized as Hankow (), was one of the three towns (the other two were Wuchang and Hanyang) merged to become modern-day Wuhan city, the capital of the Hubei province, China. It stands north of the Han and Yangtze Rivers wher ...

. Afterwards, he served as ''inspecteur des services'' of the

Messageries Maritimes ''Messageries Maritimes'' was a French merchant shipping company. It was originally created in 1851 as ''Messageries nationales'', later called ''Messageries impériales'', and from 1871, ''Compagnie des messageries maritimes'', casually known as ...

in Paris.

Selected works

* "The province of Shantung: its geography, natural history &c." (published in English, 1875). * "Trip of a naturalist to the Chinese Far East" (published in English, 1876). * "The wild silk-worms of the province of Shan-tung" (published in English, 1877). * "Alligators in China: their history, description and identification" (published in English, 1879). * "Unpublished documents on the history of the Seychelles Islands anterior to 1810" (published in English, 1909).OCLC WorldCat
(published works)

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Fauvel, Albert-Auguste 1851 births 1909 deaths People from Cherbourg-Octeville French naturalists French zoologists