Julien François Desjardins (27 July 1799,

Centre de Flacq Centre de Flacq or Central Flacq is the metropolitan area of Flacq District, located in the center of the district, the village is one of the most developed and popular villages in Mauritius. Home of several commercials and public institutions, th ...

– 18 April 1840,

Paris Paris () is the capital and most populous city of France, with an estimated population of 2,165,423 residents in 2019 in an area of more than 105 km² (41 sq mi), making it the 30th most densely populated city in the world in 2020. S ...

) was a French zoologist, the son of Julien Jouan Desjardins (1766–1853) and Henriette Émilie Marcotte. He married Julie Renée Maréchal, his first cousin by his mother. He studied in Paris from 1822 to 1824 under

Cuvier Jean Léopold Nicolas Frédéric, Baron Cuvier (; 23 August 1769 – 13 May 1832), known as Georges Cuvier, was a French naturalist and zoologist, sometimes referred to as the "founding father of paleontology". Cuvier was a major figure in nat ...

, and was influenced by

Louis Jacques Thénard Louis Jacques Thénard (4 May 177721 June 1857) was a French chemist. Life He was born in a farm cottage near Nogent-sur-Seine in the Champagne district the son of a farm worker. In the post-Revolution French educational system , most boys rec ...

(1777–1857), Joseph Louis Gay-Lussac (1778–1850), Pierre André Latreille (1762–1833),

René Desfontaines René (''Born again (Christianity), born again'' or ''reborn'' in French language, French) is a common given name, first name in French-speaking, Spanish-speaking, and German-speaking countries. It derives from the Latin name Renatus. René is th ...

(1750–1831) and others. He embarked on a career in civil engineering, but soon realised that he should return to his original passion of natural history and studied at the

Muséum d'Histoire Naturelle The French National Museum of Natural History, known in French as the ' (abbreviation MNHN), is the national natural history museum of France and a ' of higher education part of Sorbonne Universities. The main museum, with four galleries, is loc ...

. With

Charles Telfair Charles Edward Telfair (1778 in Belfast – 14 July 1833 in Port Louis) was an Irish botanist. Early life and career Telfair was the son of a Belfast schoolmaster. He studied chemistry under Joseph Black and later qualified as a medical doct ...

Wenceslas Bojer Wenceslas Bojer (also Václav Bojer in Czech or Wenzel Bojer in German) (23 September 1795 in Řesanice, Bohemia, now the Czech Republic – 4 June 1856 in Port Louis, Mauritius) was a Czech naturalist, botanist and botanical illustrator. Lif ...

, and

Jacques Delisse Jacques Delisse (13 May 1773 – 13 March 1856) was a French pharmacist and botanist. Life Jacques Delisse was born in Dax, Landes on 13 May 1773 and went to Paris in 1787 to study pharmacy. He joined the Baudin expedition to Australia that sail ...

, Desjardins took part in founding the ' on 11 August 1829. He was the first secretary of this Society and editor of the publication ' until 1839, when he left for France to publish his observations. His premature death led to the acquisition of his manuscript by Félix Édouard Guérin-Méneville (1799–1874), who never published it. An excerpt from the Proceedings of the Zoological Society of London of a meeting held on 23 October 1838 reads:

A letter was read from M. Julien Desjardins, Secretary of the Natural History Society of Mauritius, stating that it was his intention to leave that island on 1 January 1839 for England, with a large collection of objects in natural history, many of which he intended for the Society.

Desjardins made a thorough search for fossils in his home region of

Flacq Flacq () is a district of Mauritius, situated in the east of the island. It is the largest district, having an area of 297.9 km², the population estimate was at 138,460 as at 31 December 2015. Places of interest The small village of Trou ...

, and found fragments of the osseous cover and

humerus The humerus (; ) is a long bone in the arm that runs from the shoulder to the elbow. It connects the scapula and the two bones of the lower arm, the radius and ulna, and consists of three sections. The humeral upper extremity consists of a roun ...

bones of endemic

tortoise Tortoises () are reptiles of the family Testudinidae of the order Testudines (Latin: ''tortoise''). Like other turtles, tortoises have a turtle shell, shell to protect from predation and other threats. The shell in tortoises is generally hard, ...

s. At Plaine des Roches and at Montagne Blanche, he found them scattered on the surface. At Mare La Chaux and Riche Mare, they occurred in mud and shallow water. ' lists 28 species with the

specific name Specific name may refer to: * in Database management systems, a system-assigned name that is unique within a particular database In taxonomy, either of these two meanings, each with its own set of rules: * Specific name (botany), the two-part (bino ...

''desjardinsii''.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Desjardins, Julien Francois French zoologists 1799 births 1840 deaths Mauritian scientists People from Flacq District 19th-century French zoologists