Jean René Constant Quoy (10 November 1790 in Maillé – 4 July 1869 in

Rochefort Rochefort () may refer to: Places France * Rochefort, Charente-Maritime, in the Charente-Maritime department ** Arsenal de Rochefort, a former naval base and dockyard * Rochefort, Savoie in the Savoie department * Rochefort-du-Gard, in the Ga ...

) was a French

naval surgeon A naval surgeon, or less commonly ship's doctor, is the person responsible for the health of the ship's company aboard a warship. The term appears often in reference to Royal Navy's medical personnel during the Age of Sail. Ancient uses Speciali ...

zoologist Zoology ()The pronunciation of zoology as is usually regarded as nonstandard, though it is not uncommon. is the branch of biology that studies the Animal, animal kingdom, including the anatomy, structure, embryology, evolution, Biological clas ...

and

anatomist Anatomy () is the branch of biology concerned with the study of the structure of organisms and their parts. Anatomy is a branch of natural science that deals with the structural organization of living things. It is an old science, having its ...

. In 1806, he began his medical studies at the school of naval medicine at

, afterwards serving as an auxiliary-surgeon on a trip to the

Antilles The Antilles (; gcf, label=Antillean Creole, Antiy; es, Antillas; french: Antilles; nl, Antillen; ht, Antiy; pap, Antias; Jamaican Patois: ''Antiliiz'') is an archipelago bordered by the Caribbean Sea to the south and west, the Gulf of Mex ...

(1808–1809). After earning his medical doctorate in 1814 at

Montpellier Montpellier (, , ; oc, Montpelhièr ) is a city in southern France near the Mediterranean Sea. One of the largest urban centres in the region of Occitania (administrative region), Occitania, Montpellier is the prefecture of the Departments of ...

, he was surgeon-major on a journey to

Réunion Réunion (; french: La Réunion, ; previously ''Île Bourbon''; rcf, label= Reunionese Creole, La Rényon) is an island in the Indian Ocean that is an overseas department and region of France. It is located approximately east of the island ...

(1814–1815). Along with

Joseph Paul Gaimard Joseph Paul Gaimard (31 January 1793 – 10 December 1858) was a French naval surgeon and naturalist. Biography Gaimard was born at Saint-Zacharie on January 31, 1793. He studied medicine at the naval medical school in Toulon, subsequent ...

, he served as naturalist and surgeon aboard the ''Uranie'' under

Louis de Freycinet Louis Claude de Saulces de Freycinet (7 August 1779 – 18 August 1841) was a French Navy officer. He circumnavigated the earth, and in 1811 published the first map to show a full outline of the coastline of Australia. Biography He was born at ...

from 1817 to 1820, and on the ''

Astrolabe An astrolabe ( grc, ἀστρολάβος ; ar, ٱلأَسْطُرلاب ; persian, ستاره‌یاب ) is an ancient astronomical instrument that was a handheld model of the universe. Its various functions also make it an elaborate inclin ...

'' (1826–1829) under the command of

Jules Dumont d'Urville Jules Sébastien César Dumont d'Urville (; 23 May 1790 – 8 May 1842) was a French explorer and naval officer who explored the south and western Pacific, Australia, New Zealand, and Antarctica. As a botanist and cartographer, he gave his nam ...

. In July 1823 he and Gaimard presented a paper to the Académie royale des Sciences on the origin of coral reefs, taking issue with the then widespread belief that these were constructed by coral polyps from bases in very deep water and arguing instead that the original bases must have been in shallow water because reef-building polyps were confined to water depths of just a few tens of metres. Their work was quoted by

Charles Darwin Charles Robert Darwin ( ; 12 February 1809 – 19 April 1882) was an English naturalist, geologist, and biologist, widely known for his contributions to evolutionary biology. His proposition that all species of life have descended fr ...

in his seminal monograph on the origin on reefs and atolls. While on the ''Astrolabe'' expedition Quoy and Gaimard collected and described ''

Tachygia microlepis The Tonga ground skink (''Tachygyia microlepis'') is an extinct species of skink endemic to the island of Tonga Tonga (, ; ), officially the Kingdom of Tonga ( to, Puleʻanga Fakatuʻi ʻo Tonga), is a Polynesian country and archipela ...

'', the now extinct giant

skink Skinks are lizards belonging to the family Scincidae, a family in the infraorder Scincomorpha. With more than 1,500 described species across 100 different taxonomic genera, the family Scincidae is one of the most diverse families of lizards. Ski ...

Tonga Tonga (, ; ), officially the Kingdom of Tonga ( to, Puleʻanga Fakatuʻi ʻo Tonga), is a Polynesian country and archipelago. The country has 171 islands – of which 45 are inhabited. Its total surface area is about , scattered over in ...

. Along with his skills as a naturalist, Quoy was acclaimed for his work as an artist.Data Fisheries
Jean René Constant Quoy, Dr In 1824, he was appointed professor of anatomy at the Rochefort Naval School, where from 1832 to 1835, he was a professor of medicine. He then continued his career at naval hospitals in

Toulon Toulon (, , ; oc, label= Provençal, Tolon , , ) is a city on the French Riviera and a large port on the Mediterranean coast, with a major naval base. Located in the Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur region, and the Provence province, Toulon is th ...

(1835–1837) and in

Brest Brest may refer to: Places *Brest, Belarus **Brest Region **Brest Airport **Brest Fortress * Brest, Kyustendil Province, Bulgaria * Břest, Czech Republic *Brest, France ** Arrondissement of Brest **Brest Bretagne Airport ** Château de Brest *Br ...

(1838–1848), afterwards being chosen inspector general of the Naval Bureau of Medicine and Surgery (serving from 1848 to 1858).

Taxonomy

The following

genera Genus ( plural genera ) is a taxonomic rank used in the biological classification of living and fossil organisms as well as viruses. In the hierarchy of biological classification, genus comes above species and below family. In binomial nomenclat ...

species In biology, a species is the basic unit of classification and a taxonomic rank of an organism, as well as a unit of biodiversity. A species is often defined as the largest group of organisms in which any two individuals of the appropriate s ...

were named in his honor: *'' Cracticus quoyi'' – the

black butcherbird The black butcherbird (''Melloria quoyi'', also known as ''Cracticus quoyi'') is a species of butcherbird in the family Artamidae. It is found in Australia, Indonesia, and Papua New Guinea. Its natural habitats are subtropical or tropical dry ...

*'' Quoya'' – a genus of

sea slug Sea slug is a common name for some marine invertebrates with varying levels of resemblance to terrestrial slugs. Most creatures known as sea slugs are gastropods, i.e. they are sea snails (marine gastropod mollusks) that over evolutionary t ...

s *'' Quoyia'' – a genus of extinct marine gastropods *''

Terebra quoygaimardi ''Terebra quoygaimardi'' is a species of sea snail, a marine gastropod mollusc in the family Terebridae The Terebridae, commonly referred to as auger shells or auger snails, is a group or family of small to large predatory marine gastrop ...

'' – a species of

sea snail Sea snail is a common name for slow-moving marine gastropod molluscs, usually with visible external shells, such as whelk or abalone. They share the taxonomic class Gastropoda with slugs, which are distinguished from snails primarily by the ...

*'' Pilumnus quoyi'' – a species of crab *'' Ischnochiton quoyanus'' – a species of chiton *''

Eulamprus quoyii ''Eulamprus quoyii'', more commonly known as the eastern water skink, eastern water-skink, or golden water skink, is a viviparous species of Diurnality, diurnal skink. ''Eulamprus quoyii'' belongs to the family Scincidae and is considered a commo ...

'' – a species of

*'' Quoya'' – a genus of Australian plants

Writings

*''Voyage autour du monde … pendant les années 1817, 1818, 1819 et 1820''. (with Louis Claude Desaulses de Freycinet, Joseph Paul Gaimard,

Charles Gaudichaud-Beaupré Charles Gaudichaud-Beaupré (September 4, 1789 – January 16, 1854) was a French botanist. Biography Gaudichaud was born in Angoulême, to J-J. Gaudichaud and Rose (Mallat) Gaudichaud. He studied pharmacology informally at Cognac and Angoulême, ...

, et al.). *''Voyage de la corvette l'Astrolabe exécuté par ordre du Roi, pendant les années 1826-1827-1828-1829 sous le commandement de M. J. Dumont d'Urville''. (with Jules-Sébastien-César Dumont d'Urville, J Tastu and Joseph Paul Gaimard).WorldCat Title
''Voyage de la corvette l'Astrolabe''. (in French).

Sources

*Mearns, Barbara; Mearns, Richard (1998). ''The Bird Collectors''. Cambridge, Massachusetts: Academic Press. 472 pp. .

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Quoy, Jean Rene Constant French ornithologists French zoologists People from Vendée French military doctors Members of the French Academy of Sciences Teuthologists 1790 births 1869 deaths Commandeurs of the Légion d'honneur Conchologists Naval surgeons

Taxonomy

Writings

Sources

See also

References