François Paul Louis Pollen (1842–1886) was a Dutch naturalist and merchant. He made major contributions to the study of the Malagasy fauna.

Biography

Pollen was born on 8 January 1842 in

Rotterdam Rotterdam ( , ; ; ) is the second-largest List of cities in the Netherlands by province, city in the Netherlands after the national capital of Amsterdam. It is in the Provinces of the Netherlands, province of South Holland, part of the North S ...

Netherlands , Terminology of the Low Countries, informally Holland, is a country in Northwestern Europe, with Caribbean Netherlands, overseas territories in the Caribbean. It is the largest of the four constituent countries of the Kingdom of the Nether ...

. He had four siblings. His father M.P. Pollen (1806–1857) was owner of the distillery M.P. Pollen & Zoon in Rotterdam. In 1862, he moved to

Leiden Leiden ( ; ; in English language, English and Archaism, archaic Dutch language, Dutch also Leyden) is a List of cities in the Netherlands by province, city and List of municipalities of the Netherlands, municipality in the Provinces of the Nethe ...

to study medicine, but

Hermann Schlegel Hermann Schlegel (10 June 1804 – 17 January 1884) was a German ornithologist, herpetologist and ichthyologist. Early life and education Schlegel was born at Altenburg, the son of a brassfounder. His father collected butterflies, which stimulated ...

encouraged him to study zoology. Together with his companion Douwe Casparus van Dam (1827–1898) he made an expedition to

Madagascar Madagascar, officially the Republic of Madagascar, is an island country that includes the island of Madagascar and numerous smaller peripheral islands. Lying off the southeastern coast of Africa, it is the world's List of islands by area, f ...

which lasted from November 1863 to July 1866. They collected insects, fish, birds, and mammals for the

Rijksmuseum van Natuurlijke Historie The Rijksmuseum van Natuurlijke Historie (National Museum of Natural History) was a museum on the Rapenburg in Leiden, the Netherlands. It was founded in 1820 by Royal Decree from a merger of several existing collections including Temminck's own ...

in Leiden. Thanks to his wealth Pollen was able to finance this trip by himself. Subsequently, he also financed the field work of other naturalists on Madagascar without being directly involved. Further he collected animal and plant specimens on the

Comoros The Comoros, officially the Union of the Comoros, is an archipelagic country made up of three islands in Southeastern Africa, located at the northern end of the Mozambique Channel in the Indian Ocean. Its capital and largest city is Moroni, ...

and on the

Mascarenes The Mascarene Islands (, ) or Mascarenes or Mascarenhas Archipelago is a group of islands in the Indian Ocean east of Madagascar consisting of islands belonging to the Republic of Mauritius as well as the French department of Réunion. Their na ...

island of

Réunion Réunion (; ; ; known as before 1848) is an island in the Indian Ocean that is an overseas departments and regions of France, overseas department and region of France. Part of the Mascarene Islands, it is located approximately east of the isl ...

. In 1875 Pollen was awarded an

honorary doctorate An honorary degree is an academic degree for which a university (or other degree-awarding institution) has waived all of the usual requirements. It is also known by the Latin phrases ''honoris causa'' ("for the sake of the honour") or '' ad hon ...

by the Georg-August University of Göttingen,

Germany Germany, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It lies between the Baltic Sea and the North Sea to the north and the Alps to the south. Its sixteen States of Germany, constituent states have a total popu ...

. Together with Hermann Schlegel he described the

Madagascan fruit bat The Madagascan fruit bat (''Eidolon dupreanum'') is a species of bat in the family Pteropodidae. It is endemic to Madagascar and is listed as "Vulnerable" by the IUCN because it is hunted as bushmeat. Distribution and habitat ''Eidolon dupreanu ...

(''Eidolon dupreanum'') in 1866. In the same year he described the Réunion cuckooshrike (''Coracina newtoni'' ) and again with Schlegel the

vanga The family Vangidae (from ''vanga'', Malagasy for the hook-billed vanga, ''Vanga curvirostris'') comprises a group of often shrike-like medium-sized birds distributed from Asia to Africa, including the vangas of Madagascar to which the family o ...

genus '' Newtonia'' in 1868. Pollen's name is commemorated in the specific epithets of the

Comoros olive pigeon The Comoro olive pigeon (''Columba pollenii''), also known as the Comoros Rameron pigeon or simply the Comoro pigeon, is a species of bird in the family Columbidae. It is found in Comoros and Mayotte. It is becoming rare due to habitat loss. Des ...

(''Columba pollenii''), the

Pollen's vanga Pollen's vanga (''Xenopirostris polleni'') is a species of bird in the family Vangidae. It is endemic to eastern Madagascar. Its natural habitats are subtropical or tropical moist lowland forests and subtropical or tropical moist montane forests. ...

(''Xenopirostris polleni''), the

Mayotte chameleon The Mayotte chameleon (''Furcifer polleni'') is a species of chameleon that is endemic to Mayotte in the Comoros Islands. It was first described by Wilhelm Peters in 1874. Etymology The specific name, ''polleni'', is in honor of Dutch naturalist ...

(''Furcifer polleni''),Beolens, Bo; Watkins, Michael; Grayson, Michael (2011). ''The Eponym Dictionary of Reptiles''. Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press. xiii + 296 pp. . ("Pollen", p. 209). and the Madagascar coastal skink (''Madascincus polleni''). He died on 7 May 1886 in

The Hague The Hague ( ) is the capital city of the South Holland province of the Netherlands. With a population of over half a million, it is the third-largest city in the Netherlands. Situated on the west coast facing the North Sea, The Hague is the c ...

, Netherlands.

Publications (selected)

* F.P.L. Pollen (1867). ''Een blik in Madagaskar''.
full text
with two

facsimile A facsimile (from Latin ''fac simile'', "to make alike") is a copy or reproduction of an old book, manuscript, map, art print, or other item of historical value that is as true to the original source as possible. It differs from other forms of r ...

plates by

John Gerrard Keulemans Johannes Gerardus Keulemans (8 June 1842 – 29 March 1912) was a Dutch bird illustrator. For most of his life he lived and worked in England, illustrating many of the best-known ornithology books of the nineteenth century. Biography Keulemans ...

). * ''Recherches sur la faune de Madagascar et de ses dépendances, d'après les découvertes de François P. L. Pollen et D. C. Van Dam'' (J. K. Steenhoff (E. J. Brill), Leiden). (1868–1877). The work includes the following parts: ** Part 1. ''Relation de voyage'' by François Pollen, ** Part 2. ''Mammifères et oiseaux'' by

and François Pollen, ** Part 3. ''Reptiles'',Prospectus in Recherches Part 5
** Part 4. ''Poissons et pêches'' by

Pieter Bleeker Pieter Bleeker (10 July 1819 – 24 January 1878) was a Dutch medical doctor, Ichthyology, ichthyologist, and Herpetology, herpetologist. He was famous for the ''Atlas Ichthyologique des Indes Orientales Néêrlandaises'', his monumental work on ...

(1819–1878) and François Pollen, ** Part 5. ''Insectes ...'' by

Samuel Constantinus Snellen van Vollenhoven Samuel Constant Snellen van Vollenhoven (18 October 1816, Rotterdam – 22 March 1880) was a Dutch entomologist. He is not to be confused with Pieter Cornelius Tobias Snellen another entomologist from Rotterdam. He was curator of the entomologic ...

(1816–1880) and

Edmond de Sélys Longchamps Baron Michel Edmond de Selys Longchamps (25 May 1813 – 11 December 1900) was a Belgium, Belgian Liberal Party (Belgium), Liberal Party politician and scientist. Selys Longchamps has been regarded as the founding figure of odonatology, the stud ...

(1813–1900), ** ''Crustacés et échinodermes'' by

Christiaan Karel Hoffmann Christiaan is a Dutch, Flemish, and Afrikaans male given name. An archaic spelling of the name was Christiaen with "ae" to indicate the long sound "a". People with the name include: * Christiaan van Adrichem (1533–1585), Dutch Catholic priest ...

(1844–1903), ** ''Mollusques'' by

Johannes Govertus de Man Johannes Govertus de Man (2 May 1850 in Middelburg – 9 January 1930 in Middelburg), was a Dutch biologist. He was assistant curator at the (Dutch for ''national natural history museum'') in Leiden, where he specialised in free-living nematode ...

(1850–1930).

References

External links

*A.C. van Bruggen & F.F.J.M. Pieters (1990): ''Notes on a drawing of Indian elephants in red crayon by Petrus Camper (1786) in the archives of the Rijksmuseum van Natuurlijke Historie'' In: Zoologische Mededelingen. Vol. 63 (19). pp. 255–266
PDF, online
.
Entry for François Pollen at JSTOR Plant Science
{{DEFAULTSORT:Pollen, Francois 1842 births 1886 deaths 19th-century Dutch naturalists Scientists from Rotterdam

Biography

Publications (selected)

References

Further reading

External links