Marc Athanase Parfait Œillet des Murs (

Paris Paris () is the Capital city, capital and List of communes in France with over 20,000 inhabitants, 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), ma ...

, 18 April 1804 –

Nogent-le-Rotrou Nogent-le-Rotrou () is a commune in the Eure-et-Loir department in northern France. It is a sub-prefecture and is located on the river Huisne, 56 kilometres west of Chartres on the RN23 and 150 kilometres south west of Paris, to which it is l ...

, 25 February 1894) was a French amateur ornithologist and local politician and historian. Nogent-le-Rotrou - Château Saint-Jean - 7

Life

His parents were Jacques Philippe Athanase Œillet Des Murs and Marie Henriette Gard. He entered the magistracy in 1830 and left it in 1838. In 1841 he became a lawyer in the

Court of Cassation A court of cassation is a high-instance court that exists in some judicial systems. Courts of cassation do not re-examine the facts of a case, they only interpret the relevant law. In this they are appellate courts of the highest instance. In th ...

, but in 1846 retired to the department of

Eure-et-Loir Eure-et-Loir (, locally: ) is a French department, named after the Eure and Loir rivers. It is located in the region of Centre-Val de Loire. In 2019, Eure-et-Loir had a population of 431,575.Nogent-le-Rotrou Nogent-le-Rotrou () is a commune in the Eure-et-Loir department in northern France. It is a sub-prefecture and is located on the river Huisne, 56 kilometres west of Chartres on the RN23 and 150 kilometres south west of Paris, to which it is l ...

and begun extensive restoration work on it. He was the mayor of Nogent-le-Rotrou from 1860 to 1868. In 1885, having sunk a good deal of his fortune into the restoration of the Château, he sold it. He married Caroline Euphrasie Naulot, who survived him.

Ornithology

He published many papers. His major ornithological works include *''Iconographie Ornithologique'', (1849), a book of illustrations and descriptions of birds. *The ornithological section of ''Voyage autour du monde sur la frégate la'' Vénus: ''Zoologie'' (''Voyage Around the World on the Frigate'' Vénus: ''Zoology''), in collaboration with

Florent Prévost Florent Prévost (1794 – 1 February 1870) was a French naturalist and illustrator. Prévost was assistant naturalist at the Muséum National d'Histoire Naturelle. He was the author of various zoological works, including ''Les Pigeons par Madame ...

(1855), in which they described several new species. *''Traité général d’oologie ornithologique au point de vue de la classification'' (''A General Treatise on Ornithological Oology from the Point of View of Classification''), 1860. One reviewer praised the author's knowledge of oology but disagreed with his reliance on resemblances of eggs, with too little attention to other information, in the classification of birds. *''Leçons élémentaires sur l'histoire naturelle des oiseaux'' (''Elementary Lessons on the Natural History of Birds''), a popularization of ornithology, in which he joined Jules Verreaux in collaborating with Jean-Charles Chenu.

History

His main historical work is ''Histoire des comtes du Perche de la famille des Rotrou de 943 à 1231'' (''History of the Counts of Perche of the Rotrou Family from 943 to 1231''), 1856.

Surname

"Des Murs" is a known French surname meaning "of the walls". "Œillet" means "

carnation ''Dianthus caryophyllus'' (), commonly known as the carnation or clove pink, is a species of ''Dianthus''. It is likely native to the Mediterranean region but its exact range is unknown due to extensive cultivation for the last 2,000 years.Med ...

" (or any ''

Dianthus ''Dianthus'' () is a genus of about 340 species of flowering plants in the family Caryophyllaceae, native mainly to Europe and Asia, with a few species in north Africa and in southern Africa, and one species (''D. repens'') in arctic North A ...

''), so "Œillet des Murs" could be a rare surname meaning "carnation of the walls". Which of those was his surname seems to have been unclear even during his lifetime. His name appears on the title pages of his books as "M. O. des Murs" and as "O. des Murs" with no other names or titles, though he signs a dedication "P. O. des Murs". It also appears as "O. des Murs" in books where the names of his co-authors, Chenu and Verreaux and Prévost, are given with initials and surnames, suggesting that he thought of "O." as his initial and "Des Murs" as his surname. Likewise his contribution to Chenu's ''Encyclopédie d'histoire naturelle'' is listed as by "M. des Murs". On the other hand, he was cited with the family name "Oeillet des Murs" in his time, on his death certificate and later, and Marc Oeillet des Murs appears as a writer on Normandy. In ornithology he is referred to as "Des Murs".

References

External links

*
BHL
Digitised ''Traité général d’oologie ornithologique au point de vue de la classification'' {{DEFAULTSORT:Des Murs, Marc Athanase Parfait Oeillet French ornithologists 1804 births 1878 deaths French male non-fiction writers 19th-century French historians 19th-century French male writers Oologists