Marie Jules César Lelorgne de Savigny (; 5 April 1777 – 5 October 1851) was a French

zoologist Zoology ( , ) is the scientific study of animals. Its studies include the structure, embryology, classification, habits, and distribution of all animals, both living and extinct, and how they interact with their ecosystems. Zoology is one ...

and naturalist who served on Emperor

Napoleon Napoleon Bonaparte (born Napoleone di Buonaparte; 15 August 1769 – 5 May 1821), later known by his regnal name Napoleon I, was a French general and statesman who rose to prominence during the French Revolution and led Military career ...

's Egypt expedition in 1798. He published descriptions of numerous taxa and was among the first to propose that the mouth-parts of insects are derived from the jointed legs of segmented arthropods.

Life and work

Savigny was born at

Provins Provins () is a Communes of France, commune in the Seine-et-Marne Departments of France, department in the Île-de-France Regions of France, region in north-central France. Known for its well-preserved medieval architecture and importance througho ...

to Jean-Jacques Lelorgne de Savigny and Françoise Josèphe de Barbaud. He was educated at the Collège des Oratoriens in classical languages with a view to becoming a priest, but learned a bit of botany and the use of microscope. He then studied with a local apothecary when he passed an exam to study in Paris at the École de Santé (school of health) in 1793. He also attended lectures at the Muséum d'Histoire Naturelle where he was noticed by Lamarck. Georges Cuvier suggested that he join an expedition. In 1798 he travelled to

Egypt Egypt ( , ), officially the Arab Republic of Egypt, is a country spanning the Northeast Africa, northeast corner of Africa and Western Asia, southwest corner of Asia via the Sinai Peninsula. It is bordered by the Mediterranean Sea to northe ...

under the sponsorship of Emperor

as part of the French scientific expedition to that country and returned in 1802. He then contributed to the publication of the findings of the expedition from 1809 ('' Description de l'Égypte''; published more fully in 1822). He wrote about the fauna in the

Mediterranean Sea The Mediterranean Sea ( ) is a sea connected to the Atlantic Ocean, surrounded by the Mediterranean basin and almost completely enclosed by land: on the east by the Levant in West Asia, on the north by Anatolia in West Asia and Southern Eur ...

and the

Red Sea The Red Sea is a sea inlet of the Indian Ocean, lying between Africa and Asia. Its connection to the ocean is in the south, through the Bab-el-Mandeb Strait and the Gulf of Aden. To its north lie the Sinai Peninsula, the Gulf of Aqaba, and th ...

Education and travel to Egypt

At age 16, Savigny traveled from his home of

, in the department of Seine et Marne, to

Paris Paris () is the Capital city, capital and List of communes in France with over 20,000 inhabitants, largest city of France. With an estimated population of 2,048,472 residents in January 2025 in an area of more than , Paris is the List of ci ...

to finish his studies. Being very interested in

botany Botany, also called plant science, is the branch of natural science and biology studying plants, especially Plant anatomy, their anatomy, Plant taxonomy, taxonomy, and Plant ecology, ecology. A botanist or plant scientist is a scientist who s ...

, he attended lectures at the ''

Muséum national d'histoire naturelle The French National Museum of Natural History ( ; abbr. MNHN) is the national natural history museum of France and a of higher education part of Sorbonne University. The main museum, with four galleries, is located in Paris, France, within the Ja ...

'' with

Jean-Baptiste Lamarck Jean-Baptiste Pierre Antoine de Monet, chevalier de Lamarck (1 August 1744 – 18 December 1829), often known simply as Lamarck (; ), was a French naturalist, biologist, academic, and soldier. He was an early proponent of the idea that biologi ...

and

Georges Cuvier Jean Léopold Nicolas Frédéric, baron Cuvier (23 August 1769 – 13 May 1832), known as Georges Cuvier (; ), was a French natural history, naturalist and zoology, zoologist, sometimes referred to as the "founding father of paleontology". Cuv ...

. Cuvier suggested to

that the 21-year-old Savigny should follow him as zoologist to

. Savigny became responsible for studying

invertebrates Invertebrates are animals that neither develop nor retain a vertebral column (commonly known as a ''spine'' or ''backbone''), which evolved from the notochord. It is a paraphyletic grouping including all animals excluding the chordate subphylum ...

, while

Étienne Geoffroy Saint-Hilaire Étienne Geoffroy Saint-Hilaire (; 15 April 177219 June 1844) was a French naturalist who established the principle of "unity of composition". He was a colleague of Jean-Baptiste Lamarck and expanded and defended Lamarck's evolutionary theorie ...

took care of the

vertebrates Vertebrates () are animals with a vertebral column (backbone or spine), and a cranium, or skull. The vertebral column surrounds and protects the spinal cord, while the cranium protects the brain. The vertebrates make up the subphylum Vertebra ...

. After returning to Paris, in 1802, Savigny started to work on the large collections from Egypt, producing a number of manuscripts and

plates Plate may refer to: Cooking * Plate (dishware), broad, mainly flat vessel commonly used to serve food * Plates, tableware, dishes or dishware used for setting a table, serving food and dining * Plate, the content of such a plate (for example: ...

. In 1805 he published ''Histoire naturelle et mythologique de l'ibis'' (Natural and mythological history of the

ibis The ibis () (collective plural ibises; classical plurals ibides and ibes) are a group of long-legged wading birds in the family Threskiornithidae that inhabit wetlands, forests and plains. "Ibis" derives from the Latin and Ancient Greek word f ...

). As a botanist he described the genus '' Bruguiera'' (Savigny in Lam. 1798) and numerous plants including algae.

Later years

By 1817, Savigny's eyesight had deteriorated, and he suffered from a nervous affliction and had to stop working for a number of years. Between 1816 and 1820 he published the important ''Mémoires sur les animaux sans vertèbres'' (Memoires on the animals without vertebrae). He had examined flowers and their parts as a botanist and applied the same approach to the details of insects. He compared the mouthparts of lepidoptera, those of crustaceans, arthropods (like the horseshoe crab) and came up with the theory (''Theorie de la bouche'') that there were homologies among them. He suggested in 1816 that there was a common plan. This idea was influenced others including Geoffroy Saint-Hilaire. After he returned to work in 1822, his eyesight continued to worsen, and by 1824 he became more-or-less blind, with terrible "optical hallucinations". Victor Audouin offered to complete Savigny's work but Savigny refused to part with the original artwork. Savigny was elected member of the Academy of Science on 30 July 1821. From 1824 to until his death he lived a reclusive life in Versailles.

Eponymy

Taxa named in honor of Savigny include:

Genera

*'' Savignya'' (family

Brassicaceae Brassicaceae () or (the older but equally valid) Cruciferae () is a medium-sized and economically important Family (biology), family of flowering plants commonly known as the mustards, the crucifers, or the cabbage family. Most are herbaceous pla ...

) DC. *'' Savignyella'' DC. *'' Savignia'' Blackwall, 1833

Species

*'' Acanthodactylus savignyi'' Audouin, 1809 *'' Anachis savignyi'' Moazzo, 1939 *'' Ciona savignyi'' Herdman, 1882 *'' Diadema savignyi'' (Audouin, 1809) *'' Embia savignyi'' Westwood, 1837 *'' Goniopora savignyi'' ( Dana, 1846) *'' Hyla savignyi'' Audouin, 1827 *'' Leptochelia savignyi'' ( Krøyer, 1842) *'' Loimia savignyi'' M'Intosh, 1885 *'' Microcosmus savignyi'' Monniot, 1962 *'' Ophiactis savignyi'' J. Müller & Troschel *'' Planaxis savignyi'' Deshayes, 1844 *'' Pusia savignyi'' ( Payraudeau, 1826) *'' Sepia savignyi'' H. de Blainville, 1827 *'' Siderastrea savignyana'' H. Milne Edwards & Haime, 1850 *'' Dynamenella savignii'' H. Milne Edwards, 1840 *'' Thais savignyi'' (Deshayes, 1844) *'' Trapelus savignii'' A.M.C. Duméril & Bibron, 1837 *'' Trididemnum savignii'' ( Herdman, 1886)

Synonyms and rejected names

*'' Savignya'' Desor, 1855 *'' Vexillum savignyi'' (Payraudeau, 1826)

References

External links

Marie-Jules-César Lelorgne de Savigny (1777-1851)
Archives Départementales de Seine-et-Marne (biography in French)
''Memoires Sur Les Animaux Sans Vertebres''
{{DEFAULTSORT:Savigny, Marie Jules Cesar 1777 births 1851 deaths People from Provins Commission des Sciences et des Arts members French ornithologists Members of the French Academy of Sciences Members of the Prussian Academy of Sciences National Museum of Natural History (France) people