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 ( , , , lit. ''The Dam on the River Rotte'') is the second largest city and municipality in the Netherlands. It is in the province of South Holland, part of the North Sea mouth of the Rhine–Meuse–Scheldt delta, via the ''"N ...

Netherlands ) , anthem = ( en, "William of Nassau") , image_map = , map_caption = , subdivision_type = Sovereign state , subdivision_name = Kingdom of the Netherlands , established_title = Before independence , established_date = Spanish Netherl ...

. 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 and archaic Dutch also Leyden) is a city and municipality in the province of South Holland, Netherlands. The municipality of Leiden has a population of 119,713, but the city forms one densely connected agglomeration wit ...

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 stimula ...

encouraged him to study zoology. Together with his companion

Douwe Casparus van Dam Douwe or Douw is a Dutch given name of West Frisian origin and probably meaning "dove" (Frisian:''dou'').Douwe
at the < ...

(1827–1898) he made an expedition to

Madagascar Madagascar (; mg, Madagasikara, ), officially the Republic of Madagascar ( mg, Repoblikan'i Madagasikara, links=no, ; french: République de Madagascar), is an island country in the Indian Ocean, approximately off the coast of East Africa ...

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. This happened on the initi ...

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,; ar, الاتحاد القمري ' is an independent country made up of three islands in southeastern Africa, located at the northern end of the Mozambique Channel in the Indian Ocean. It ...

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 the islands belonging to the Republic of Mauritius as well as the French department of Réunion. Their ...

island of

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 ...

. 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 is the second most populous country in Europe after Russia, and the most populous member state of the European Union. Germany is situated betwe ...

. 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 The Réunion cuckooshrike (''Lalage newtoni'') is a passerine bird in the cuckooshrike family. It is endemic to the island of Réunion, where it is restricted to two areas of mountain forest in the north of the island. Males are dark grey above ...

(''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 (''Columba pollenii'' ), the

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

(''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 (zoology), specific name, ''polleni'', is in ...

(''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 ( ; nl, Den Haag or ) is a city and municipality of the Netherlands, situated on the west coast facing the North Sea. The Hague is the country's administrative centre and its seat of government, and while the official capital of ...

, 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, Old master print, art print, or other item of historical value that is as true to the original source as possible. It differs from ...

plates by

John Gerrard Keulemans Johannes Gerardus Keulemans (J. G. 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. Bi ...

). * ''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, ichthyologist, and herpetologist. He was famous for the ''Atlas Ichthyologique des Indes Orientales Néêrlandaises'', his monumental work on the fishes of East Asia ...

(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 Belgian Liberal Party politician and scientist. Selys Longchamps has been regarded as the founding figure of odonatology, the study of the dragonflies and damself ...

(1813–1900), ** ''Crustacés et échinodermes'' by Christiaan Karel Hoffmann (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 nematod ...

(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 Dutch naturalists Scientists from Rotterdam

Biography

Publications (selected)

References

Further reading

External links