J.N.S. Allamand’s additions (1769—1781) to the Nouvelle Edition of Buffon’s Histoire Naturelle published in Holland

32 Pages·1992·8.7 MB·English

by  Rookmaaker, L C

Bijdragentot de Dierkunde, 61 (3) 131-162 (1992)
SPB Academie Publishingbv, The Hague
J.N.S. Allamand’s additions (1769—1781) to the Nouvelle Edition of
Buffon’s Histoire Naturelle published in Holland
L.C. Rookmaaker
Dokter Guepinlaan 23, 4032NH Ommeren, TheNetherlands
Keywords: Allamand, bibliography, biography, Buffon, cabinets, exploration, Gordon, menageries,
taxonomy, University of Leiden, zoological history
Abstract Introduction
JeanNicolas Sébastien Allamand (1713—1787),workinginHol- In the second half of the 18th century there ap-
land,wrote41 articles aboutmammals which werenot,oronly peared two books intendedto give detailsaboutall
insufficiently,treated by the Count of Buffon in his Histoire known animals (and plants): the Systerna Naturae
naturelle. Allamand’s contributions firstappearedbetween 1769
by Linnaeus(e.g., 10th edition of 1758) and the
and 1781 invariousvolumes ofaFrench editionofthe Histoire
naturellepublishedbyJ.H. Schneider in Amsterdam. Thesead- Histoire naturelleby the Count of Buffon. Both
ditional articles areanalysedtorecognize the sourcesavailable provideda frameworkwithwhichnewobservations
toAllamand. The new information was mainlyderived from couldbe compared, creating astimulus to look for
animals seenatfairs inHolland,attheinn Blauw Jan inAmster- "new" species. Buffon intended to give full
dam,inthemenagerieandmuseumofStadholderWillemVnear
descriptions of all known animals, but personally
The Hague, in the museum of the University of Leiden, and
from observationsmade in South Africaby R.J.Gordon. heneverproceeded beyond themammalsandbirds.
The Histoire naturelle is bibliographically very
complex due to a plethora of formats, editions,
Résumé translations, and abridgements. When one sees a
page referenceto a species describedby Buffon, it
Travaillant en Hollande, Jean Nicolas Sébastien Allamand is only withgreat luck that one is even able to find
(1713—1787)est l’auteur de 41 articles sur des Mammifères thename ofthe animalinthesame volume. Inthis
n’ayantpas été traités (ou l’ayant été de manière insuffisante) paper I will limitthe discussion to three editions,
parle Comtede Buffondans sonHistoirenaturelle. Lescontri- two in Frenchand one in Dutch, to drawattention
butions d’Allamand paraissentpour lapremièrefois de 1769 à
to the contributionsof J.N.S. Allamand (1713—
1781dans diversvolumes d’une éditionenfrançaisdel’Histoire
naturelle,publiéeàAmsterdam par J.H.Schneider. Cesarticles 1787).
sontanalysésdans leprésenttravail,dans lebutd’en reconnaître Thefirstoftheseeditionsistheoriginal one, pub-
les sourcesd’information. L’information d’Allamand provient lishedbytheImprimerie Royale in Paris, whichap-
surtout d’animaux vusdans des foiresenHollande,àl’auberge peared in 15 volumesbetween 1749 and 1767, fol-
deBlauw Jan (Amsterdam), dans la ménagerieet le musée du
lowed by seven supplementary volumes between
Stadhouder Willem V(prèsde LaHaye), dans le musée de l’U-
niversité deLeyde, ainsiqued’observations faitespar R.J. Gor- 1774and 1789.Thesesupplements includeda great
don enAfrique du Sud. variety of articles, e.g., contributions by Johann
132 L.C. Rookmaaker - Allamand'sadditionsto Buffon's HistoireNaturelle
ReinholdForster and George Forster (Rookmaa- In 1739,Allamandcameto Holland.Whilework-
ker, 1985),and by Allamand.Iwillreferto this set ing as aprivate tutor, Allamandlivedin the home
as the Paris edition; the pagination is that of the of Willem Jacob 's Gravesande (1688-1742), pro-
quarto format. fessorofmathematics, astronomy, andphilosophy
The next editionto be discussedin this paper is at the University of Leiden, who was one of the
theoneproduced inHollandfrom 1766onwardsby earliest influentialexponents ofNewtonianphilos-
Jan Herman Schneider of Amsterdam. Only one ophy inEurope. At thesametimehe mayhavefol-
edition had appeared previously in Holland, pub- lowed somelectures at the University ofLeiden.It
lishedbyPieterdeHondtatTheHague in 1750,but is clear from Allamand'spublications and transla-
it consisted just of the first three volumes (Tuijn, tions that he admiredthework of 's Gravesande.
1968). Schneider's editionin the French language Allamandwasappointed on3March1747as Pro-
was calledaNouvelle Editionon the title-page. It fessorofPhilosophy attheUniversity ofFraneker,
was edited by Jean Nicolas Sébastien Allamand, Friesland (which existed until 1811). He stayed
professor of natural history at the University of there for about two years, because in 1749 he
Leiden.Theorderof thearticles isgenerally similar returned to Leiden. His inaugural lecture at the
to the Paris edition, butAllamandchanged the se- University of Leiden "De vero Philosopho" held
quencewhenhethought itfittingandheaddedarti- on30May 1749dealtmostlywiththelifeof's Gra-
cles aboutnewor little-known mammalsinsuitable vesande. Allemandgave lectures on a new subject
places withinBuffon's text.
"Selecta ex historia naturali"and as such he was
TheAmsterdamNouvelleEditionwas translated
the first professor in Holland to deal specifically
into Dutch and thistranslationwas also published
with naturalhistory. Allamandmainly dealtwith
by J.H. Schneiderof Amsterdam. One would ex-
thesystematics andexternalmorphology ofanimals
pect this to be a meretranslation, but becausethe
and less with their anatomical structures. His lec-
volumes appeared alittleafter those oftheFrench
tures were not particularly brilliant: his Latinwas
edition, eitherthe editor(Allamand) or thetransla-
poor, his speech too fast (Van derKlaauw, 1926:
tor (Cornelis van Engelen) changed the sequence
3-5). Nevertheless, hecontinueduntilhis deathon
anddeleteda numberof articlesbecausethe infor-
2 March 1787. Heleft his widow from his second
mationwas superseded.
marriage, Magdalena Crommelyn (or Crommelin),
InthispaperI highlight41 articlesaddedbyAlla-
without children from that marriage.
mandintheseAmsterdameditions, many ofwhich
laterappeared again inthesupplements oftheParis From 24 June 1751, Allamand was also put in
charge of the Cabinet of Natural History main-
editionsupervised by Buffon. It gives someinsight
into the role played by Hollandin the discovery of tained by the University of Leiden. At that time,
unknown animals and illustrates the kinds of this collection was kept in the botanical gardens.
sources from which such new informationwas ob- Allamand tried to bring together all specimens of
tained. natural history which were found in different
departments of the university. He made contact
with travellers, which resulted in the addition of
Life of J.N.S. Allamand
many exotic animals. After Allamand's death in
Allamandwas bornon 18 September 1713inLau- 1787, his widow donated his private collection of
sanne, Switzerland. His first names are variously natural history specimens to the university. This
found in French, Dutch, and Latin, but I use the collectionwas already kept in a room behind the
original French: JeanNicolasSébastien. Notmuch main Academy building at the time(Anonymous,
isknownabout his early lifein Switzerland, but he 1788). In November 1788,Allamand'swidow auc-
studied theology there. Apparently, he married in tionedhis collectionof scientific instruments, fol-
the early 1730'sand his son, Frederik Allamand, lowed by his books in 1791 (Smit et al., 1986: 5).
born in 1735, was known for botanical studies During hislife, Allamandwas wellknown inEu-
(Markgraf & Steiger, 1969). rope.Hisreputation maybelargely basedonhisad-
Bijdragen tot deDierkunde, 61 (3) - 1992 133
The Amsterdam editionsof the Histoirenaturelle
The Nouvelle Edition of Buffon's Histoire natu-
relle, with the text in French, appeared in 15
volumes plus 7 supplementary volumes between
1766and 1799.Details about the structure of this
setwere givenby Rookmaaker(1989: 125).Thefirst
15 volumes basically follow the original Parisedi-
tion withonly fewchanges. In the entirework, Al-
lamand added 41 articles as treated below. These
additionsappeared in volume 12 of 1769 (1 addi-
tion), 13 of 1770(1), 14 of 1770(1), 15 of 1771—
1776(12), Supplement 4of 1778(10), and Supple-
ment 5 of 1781 [-1785] (16), listed in Table I.
In two cases, Allamand's articles werealso pub-
lishedseparately. Threearticles appeared together
in 1776 with a pagination fitting at the end of
volume 15, but thereis a title-page whichindicates
Allamandas the only author(Rookmaaker, 1989:
Fig. 79): "Histoire Naturelledu Gnou, du Grand
Gerbo, et de l'Hippopotame. Par Mr. Allamand,
Professeuren Philosophie, &en Histoirenaturelle,
à l'Université deLeyde."
Allamand's notes added to Supplement 5 also
seemto havebeenpublished ontheirown.Theonly
knowntitle-page ofthewholevolumeis dated1785.
However, from the order book of J.H. Schneider
(Rookmaaker, 1980:26, note81) and fromfour re-
marks by Buffon (Paris, Supplement 6, 1782: 68,
116, 135, 180) it is clear that at least pages 1—60
Fig. 1. Portrait of J.N.S. Allamand (photo: Prentenkabinet,
withAllamand'snotes alreadyappeared in1781. It
University ofLeiden).
is difficultto understandhowthis could havebeen
donewithout a title-page or without any explana-
ditions to Buffon's Histoire naturelle. Besides tionby thepublisher, but neitherisknownto exist.
these, he published about 12 translations or new The Amsterdam edition in Dutch runs parallel
editionsofa variety ofworks and about 10papers with the Amsterdamedition in French. However,
or small original works (see Galama, 1954: 242- evenhereinsomecases thesequenceischanged and
246). somenotes are deleted.This editionappeared in20
The life of Allamand is well treatedby Boeles, volumes(no supplements) between 1773and 1802,
1879: 504-507; Galama, 1954: 160-164; Van der butthelasttwo volumescamefroma differentpub-
Klaauw, 1926: 3-5; and De Waard, 1911. Other lisher.
sources include: Anonymous, 1788: 13, 1791; Ar- Tuijn (1966) raised the question whether Alla-
pots, 1990: 22-23; Blok & Martin, 1914: 19; Van mandwrote in Frenchor in Dutch. It appears that
Kampen, 1822:342-343; Paquot, 1768: 445-448; it is most likely that he used French in the first in-
Siegenbeek, 1832: 203-204; Vriemoet, 1768: stance andthat the Dutchtextwas always translat-
863-864; and Te Water, 1802:223-224. His por- ed from theFrench. In the Amsterdameditionsof
trait isreproduced in Fig. 1. Buffon, the notes in Dutch always appeared later
134 L.C. Rookmaaker - Allamand'sadditionsto Buffon's HistoireNaturelle
Table I. Index ofthe41 articles added by J.N.S.Allamand to threeeditions ofBuffon’s Histoirenaturelle.
No. French name Scientific names Amsterdamedition Amsterdamedition Originaledition
inFrench inDutch publishedinParis
1 Hippopotame Hippopotamusamphibius XII(1769): 28-29 absent Sup. 3(1776): 304-306
Linnaeus, 1758
2 Giraffe Giraffa camelopardalis XIII (1770): 17-19 XIII(1782):25- 28 Sup.3(1776): 324-330
(Linnaeus, 1758)
3 Blanc-Nez Cercopithecuspetaurista XIV (1770):141-142 XIV(1783): 182-184 Sup.7(1780): 67-71
(Schreber, 1774)
4 Sanglierd'Afrique Phacochoerus aethiopicus XV(1771):45-49 V(1775): 100- 105 Sup. 3(1776): 86-91
(Pallas,1766)
5 Elan,Caribou Alcesalces XV (1771):50-53 XV (1784): 112- 115 Sup.3(1776):133- 138
(Linnaeus, 1758)
Renne Rangifertarandus
(Linnaeus, 1758)
6 Antilope Antilopecervicapra XV (1771):57-59 XV (1784):178- 181 absent
Linnaeus, 1758
7 Grimme Sylvicapragrimmia XV(1771):60-61 absent absent
(Linnaeus, 1758)
8 Gerbo Jaculusjaculus XV(1771): 62-64 XV (1784):181- 184 Sup.6(1782):262-267
(Linnaeus, 1758)
9 Grison Galictis vittata XV(1771): 65-66 XV (1784):188- 189 Sup. 3(1776): 169- 171
(Schreber, 1776)
10 Tapir Tapirus terrestris XV(1771):67-70 XI (1779):259-263 Sup.6(1782): 17-23
(Linnaeus, 1758)
11 Orangs-Outangs Pongopygmaeus XV(1771):71-76 XIV (1783):39-46 Sup.7(1789): 6- 14
(Linnaeus, 1760)
Mandrillussphinx
(Linnaeus, 1758)
12 Palatine Cercopithecusdiana XV(1771):77 XIV (1783): 185- 186 Sup.7 (1789):77-79
roloway
(Schreber, 1774)
13 Gnou Connochaetes gnou XV(1776): 113-116 XV (1784): 190- 195 Sup.6 (1782):93- 99
(Zimmermann,1780)
14 Gerboises Macropusgiganteus XV(1776): 117-119 XV (1784): 185- 188 Sup.6 (1782):267-271
(Erxleben, 1777)
Pedetescapensis
(Forster,1778)
15 Hippopotame Hippopotamusamphibius XV(1776): 120-126 absent absent
Linnaeus, 1758
16 Hyène Crocuta crocuta Sup. 4(1778): 102 XV(1784): 156- 157 absent
(Erxleben, 1777)
17 Zèbre Equuszebra Sup. 4(1778): 140-141 XII(1781):26 absent
Linnaeus, 1758
18 Gazelle à bourse Antidorcasmarsupialis Sup.4(1778): 142-143 XV(1784): 195- 196 Sup.6 (1782): 180- 182
sur le dos (Zimmermann,1780)
19 Condoma Tragelaphusstrepsiceros Sup. 4(1778): 143-146 XV (1784): 197- 201 Sup.6 (1782): 127- 133
(Pallas, 1766)
20 Pasan Oryx gazella Sup. 4(1778): 147- 150 XV(1784):201-205 Sup.6 (1782): 157- 163
(Linnaeus, 1758)
21 Tzeiran Hippotragusleucophaeus Sup. 4(1778): 151-153 XV(1784):206-208 Sup.6 (1782): 169- 173
(Pallas, 1766)
22 Nyl-ghau Boselaphustragocamelus Sup. 4(1778): 153- 157 XV(1784):209-213 absent
(Pallas, 1766)
23 Klip-Das Procavia capensis Sup.4 (1778): 157-160 XV(1784): 213-216 Sup.6 (1782):278-282
(Pallas, 1766)
Bijdragen tot deDierkunde, 61 (3) - 1992 135
TableI. Continuation.
No. French name Scientific names Amsterdam edition Amsterdam edition Originaledition
inFrench in Dutch publishedin Paris
24 Kinkajou Potosflavus Sup.4(1778): 160- 164 XV (1784): 163- 171 absent
(Schreber, 1774)
25 Lérot à queuedorée Echimyschrysurus Sup.4(1778): 164-166 X(1778): 246-248 Sup.7 (1789):283-288
(Zimmermann,1780)
26 Hippopotame Hippopotamusamphibius Sup.5(1781): 1-8 Xll(1781): 45-53 Sup.6 (1782):68-77
Linnaeus, 1758
27 Rhinocéros Dicerosbicornis Sup.5(1781): 9- 13 XVI (1785): 1-7 Sup.6 (1782):78-84
(Linnaeus, 1758)
28 Kwagga Equusquagga Sup. 5(1781): 14- 15 XII (1781):27-29 Sup.6 (1782): 85-88
Boddaert, 1785
29 Canna Taurotragusoryx Sup. 5(1781): 16-18 XVI(1785):7- 10 Sup.6 (1782): 116- 121
(Pallas, 1766)
30 Bubale Alcelaphus buselaphus Sup. 5(1781): 19-21 XVI(1785): 10- 13 Sup.6 (1782): 135- 139
(Pallas, 1766)
31 TaupeduCap Georychus capensis Sup. 5(1781):22-23 XVI(1785): 13- 15 Sup.6 (1782):251 -254
(Pallas, 1779)
32 Taupedes Dunes Bathyergussuillus Sup. 5(1781): 24-25 XVI(1785): 15- 16 Sup.6 (1782):256-258
(Schreber, 1782)
33 Cochon deterre Orycteropusafer Sup. 5(1781):26-29 XVI(1785):17-20 Sup.6 (1782):230-235
(Pallas, 1766)
34 Gazelles Bovidae Sup. 5(1781):30-32 XVI(1785):21-24 absent
35 Ourebi Ourebia ourebi Sup.5(1781):33 XVI (1785):24 absent
(Zimmermann,1783)
36 Ritbok Redunca arundinum Sup.5(1781):34-36 XVI (1785):25-27 Sup.6(1782): 187-191
(Boddaert, 1785)
37 Bosbok Tragelaphusscriptus Sup.5(1781): 37 XII (1781): 184 Sup.6(1782): 192-193
sylvaticus
(Sparrman, 1780)
38 Bontebok Damaliscus dorcas Sup. 5(1781): 38-40 XVI (1785):28-30 absent
(Pallas, 1766)
39 Chevreuil des Indes Muntiacusmuntjak Sup.5(1781): 41-44 XII (1781):208-211 Sup.6 (1782): 195-200
(Zimmermann,1780)
40 Orangs-Outangs Pongopygmaeus Sup. 5(1781): 45-48 XIV(1783):47-50 Sup.7 (1789): 15-29
(Linnaeus, 1760)
Hylobateshoolock
(Harlan, 1834)
41 Giraffe Giraffacamelopardalis Sup. 5(1781): 49-60 XIII (1782):13-24 Sup.7 (1789): 345-357
(Linnaeus, 1758)
than the same ones in French, even though some- cause fourspecies occur morethan once, whilefour
times this cannot be quite substantiatedin those articlesreferto two differentanimals.Themajority
cases where there is a tieof dates. ofthesespecies were littleknown, toanextent that
Buffon in Parishad foundnoor scant information
aboutthem. Still, Allamandincludedonly ten taxa
Allamand’ssources
which had not been named earlier and which he
In his 41 additionsto Buffon's Histoire naturelle, (probably) introducedto science for the first time:
Allamandactually treated40 mammalspecies, be- Cercopithecus petaurista (note 3), Galictis vittata
136 L.C. Rookmaaker - Allamand'sadditionsto Buffon's HistoireNaturelle
(note 9), Connochaetesgnou(note 13), Macropus give someinformationaboutAllamand'smoreim-
giganteus (note 14), Antidorcas marsupialis (note portant sources.
18), Echimys chrysurus (note 25), Equus quagga
(note 28), Bathyergus suillus (note 32), Ourebia
ourebi (note 35), and Redunca arundinum(note Robert Jacob Gordon (1743-1795)
36). In the other cases, Allamand contributed on
the wholesubstantially new data. Born in Holland of Scottish descent, Gorden ar-
Theadditionsby Allamandreferto species from rived at Cape Town in 1777as officer inthe Cape
all over the world, as appears from the following garrison and in 1782 he was appointed as com-
break-down (this follows Allamand'sown indica- manderof the Dutch troops. Besides his military
tions of locality): duties, hehadalivelyinterestinthepeople, animals
and plantsofthesouthernpartofAfrica. Hemade
Africa (general): 1,7, 11, 16 several expeditions into the far interior regions.
Africa,southern: 2, 4, 13, 14, 15, 17, 18, 19,20, 21,23, 26, Gordon never published his observations, but he
27,28,29, 30, 31,32,33, 34, 35, 36, 37, leftall kinds ofnotes, journals oftheexpeditions,
38, 41
and a large collection of drawings (Rookmaaker,
Africa,western: 3, 12
1980; 1989: 60-128; Raper & Boucher, 1988).
America (general): 5
America,North: 8 Itis not knownhow Gordoncametoknow Alla-
America,South: 10,24 mand.In 1774,thetwo menmust havemet inLei-
Surinam: 9, 25 den,onwhich occasion Gordensharedsomeofhis
India: 6,22,39, 40
discoveriesmadeon hisfirstjourney to theCapeof
East Indies: 11,40
Good Hope in 1772—1773. Itisquitelikely thatAl-
Australia: 14
lamandemphasized how much more neededto be
It is not always easy to discover from Allamand's knownabouttheAfricananimals andGordonmay
notes exactly where he obtained the information have promised to write abouthis more interesting
mentioned or who communicated the findings to observations. It is strange that there are no letters
him. However, I havetriedto list belowthe differ- sent by eitherofthesemento theother. Gordonal-
ent sources ofinformation.It must be understood ways wrote to Hendrik Fagel in Holland, never
that in some cases Allamand included remarks directly to Allamand.The exact material, consist-
from more than onesource. ing ofskins, bones, drawings,andnotes forwarded
byGordontoHolland, as farascanbereconstruct-
1.UniversityofLeiden,Cabinet ofNaturalHistory: 1(present ed, was listedanddiscussedby Rookmaaker(1989:
before Allamand's time),and 2,8, 11,26,30,33,35,36,37 118-128).
38 (addedby Allamand). Themostimportantsource concerning the activi-
2.Allamand's privatecollection: 3 (alive),9(dead). ties of Gordon is his collection of drawings
3.Klöckner's collection:8,23, 24(alive)and20,21,25(dead).
4.Willem V'smuseum:4. preserved attheRijksmuseum, Amsterdam, known
5. Willem V's menagerie:4, 6,7, 10, 11, 13, 14, 18, 19,40. as the Gordon Atlas. This collectionof 455 maps
6. Amsterdam fairs: 5, 10, 16. and drawings, including 254zoologicaland 108bo-
7.Amsterdam,Van der Stel: 39. tanical ones, was extensively discussed by Rook-
8.Amsterdam, Blauw Jan: 12,23. maaker(1989: 75-111).
9.SouthAfrica,R.J.Gordon: 13,17,20,26,27,28,29,30,31,
32,34, 35, 36,37, 38, 41.
10.England, J. Banks: 14.
11.England, othersources: 17, 22 PrivatecollectionofJ.N.S. Allamand
Some of these collections or persons which occur It is rather surprising to read in the Algemeene
only a few times have been discussed in the com- Konst-enLetter-bodeof 11 July 1788abouta cabi-
ments to theappropriate notes. BelowI willtry to net ofnaturalhistory specimens collectedprivately
Bijdragen tot deDierkunde, 61 (3) - 1992 137
("voorzig afzonderlijk verzameld")by Allamand. that timeand transferredto the new museum was
Thereis no clue about its contents or its size. The quoted infull by Rookmaaker(1989: 124). Dr. C.
newspaper stated that the cabinetwas placed in a Smeenk, curator of mammalsat theNNM(in litt.,
roombehindthemainbuildingoftheUniversity of 20.8.1991) wrote that none of the old specimens
Leideneven before Allamand's death. His widow described by Allamand can still be located in the
endowed the entire collection to the University, museum, except the Blaauwbok(Hippotragus leu-
whichwascommemoratedinamemorialstone,the cophaeus) (cf. note 21).
Latin text of which was recorded anonymously
(1788: 13) and by Te Water (1802: 50). Since that
Amsterdam, Menagerie atBlauw Jan
time, Allamand's collection probably was slowly
incorporated into thegeneral cabinetoftheuniver-
BlauwJan was an inn atthe Kloveniersburgwal in
sity. Inthe additionsto Buffon'sHistoirenaturelle
Amsterdam established around 1675 (Pieters &
we only find two species which belonged to Alla-
Mörzer Bruyns, 1988: 197-202; Van Eeghen,
mandhimself, viz. a livingspecimen ofCercopithe-
1962). Inthecourtyard there weresome cagesto ex-
cus petaurista (note3) anda skin ofGalictis vittata
hibitstrange or interesting animals.From 1742on-
(note 9).
wards, the place was run by Anthony Bergmeijer
(1706/1707-1759), followed by his widow until
1781,although thelatterdid not owntheinn. Some
NaturalHistory CabinetoftheUniversityofLeiden
idea of the animals shown at Blauw Jan around
1700 can be had from a manuscript with drawings
This was an old established collection kept in the
entitled WonderenderNatuurmadeby Jan Velten
ambulacrumof the botanicalgardens sincethe be-
in thepossession oftheArtisLibrary, University of
ginning ofthe 17thcentury (Van derKlaauw,1926:
Amsterdam.Thereismuchless informationavaila-
43-44;Smitetal., 1986: 154).Catalogues werepre-
ble for the third quarterofthe 18th century. Alla-
paredfrom timeto time,which show thatthe num-
mand mentionedliving examples of Cercopithecus
ber of vertebrateswas always rathersmall. InAu-
diana(note 12) and Procavia capensis (note 23).
gust1751,Allamandwas givencharge ofthecollec-
tionofnaturalhistory specimens. They were atthe
timestored inaroom inthebotanicalgardens, but Amsterdam, private collectionof J.C. Klöckner
away from the old collectioninthe ambulacrum.
Thustherewas spaceforthenewly acquired cabinet Jacob Christoph Klöckner (sometimes Clöckner),
ofmineralsandotherspecimens donatedbyCount bornin1726or 1727inStrasburg, Germany,gradu-
Willem Bentinck (1704-1774) and other gifts (Su- atedon23 July 1764fromtheUniversityofHarder-
ringar, 1867: 268-269). Allamand arranged the wijk. Hesailedas ship's captain to the EastIndies,
museum, but he was assisted with the usual after which he settled in Amsterdam (Husson &
curatorialtasks by JohannesLe Francq van Berk- Holthuis, 1969: 152). His wife Anna Elisabeth
heij (1729-1812) from7 May 1753 (Arpots, 1990: Geertruij Lücken died on 18 March 1778, but
22-23). Klöckner's death is not recorded. His collection
A glimpse ofthe mammalsavailableat that time was auctionedin 1783 (according to alist by Aer-
is foundin Allamand'snew edition of Brisson of nout Vosmaer; see Smit et al., 1986: 144), but a
1762,where he indicatedin the text which species sales catalogue is not known. Klöcknermust have
werepresent in Leiden.Thiscollection, as far as it hadagood privatecollectionandhehadsome fame
still existed, became part of the Rijksmuseum van in stuffing and mounting mammal (and bird?)
Natuurlijke HistorieinLeiden, established in 1820 specimens. Apparently, Klöckner tried to keep an
(recently renamed: Nationaal Natuurhistorisch eyeoninteresting specimens arrivinginAmsterdam
Museum, NNM). A list dated 1 May 1834ofthose andsometimeshe wrote abouttheseto people with
specimens of mammals and birds still present at similar interests, like Allamand.
138 L.C. Rookmaaker - Allamand'sadditionsto Buffon's HistoireNaturelle
TheHague, Menagerie andMuseumofStadholder tried to highlight the historical data as they were
Willem V presented by Allamand.Eachnote ends with "Re-
marks" concerning the informationprovided by
Allamand.The orderof the notes followschrono-
Themenagerie ofthePrinceof Orange, WillemV,
logically the Amsterdam edition published in
was located at the Kleine Loo in Voorburg, near French. All volume and page references in these
The Hague, between 1748and 1786(Pieters, 1980;
notesare to theFrencheditionpublished inAmster-
Pieters&MörzerBruyns, 1988;Rookmaaker, 1989:
dam, unless noted otherwise by the indication
120). Theanimalsmentionedby Allamandin notes
"Paris" fortheoriginal Pariseditionand"Dutch"
4,6, 7, 10, 11, 13, 14, 18, 19, and40musthavebeen
for the translation published by J.H. Schneiderin
seen there. It is likely that most of these observa-
Amsterdam.
tions were made by Allamand personally. From
1771 onwards, the menagerie was supervised by
Aernout Vosmaer (1720-1799). Vosmaer had al-
ready been in charge of the prince's museum of 1. Hippopotamus amphibius Linnaeus, 1758
natural history specimens from 1752. Allamand
(note4) referred only to onespecimen seenin the
(Hippopotamus)
museum. Probably, Allamand did not want to
"Addition à la description de l'Hippopotame"
write about those specimens which might be in-
cludedin Vosmaer'sRegnum Animale(1766-1804
and 1767-1805) describing new or little known Amsterdam,Hist, nat., XII(1769):28-29, pl.III.
animals from Prince Willem's menagerie and mu- Paris, Hist, nat.,Sup. 3(1776): 304-306,pl. LXIII.
Amsterdam,Nat. Hist, [absent].
seum.
Theauthorisidentified inafootnote onp. 28as"M.Allemand
[sic], Professeur en Histoire Naturelle à l'Université de
Leyden".
The 41 additionsby Allamand
In thissection Iwill give detailsaboutthe 41 addi- Summary ofcontents. - As Buffon had been un-
tions by J.N.S. Allamandto theNouvelle Edition ableto findan accurate plateoftheHippopotamus,
Allamand added one prepared after a mounted
of Buffon's Histoire naturelle. Each note below
specimen in the collection of the University of
starts withaserialnumber,followedby thecurrent
Leiden. It had been sent from the Cape of Good
scientificname(s) ofthespecies treated.Thesecond
line gives the current English name ofthe animal. Hope abouta centuryearlier. Itwas describedand
Thethirdlinegives thetitleofthearticle, according 30 measurements were given.
to the Amsterdam edition published in French.
Thenfollowsthebibliographic referencetothe note Remarks. - The mounted Hippopotamus in the
concerned in the three editions discussed above; University ofLeidenwas mentionedinacatalogue
i.e., (1) the editionofthe Histoire naturelle(Hist, of the collection published in 1733: Catalogue de
nat.) published by J.H. Schneider, Amsterdam, in plus rares &plus curieuseschoses quise trouvent à
French; (2) theoriginal PariseditionoftheHistoire voirdanslaGalerieducélèbrejardin del'Académie
naturelle(Hist. nat.) edited by Buffon; and(3) the dansla ville deLeide, as follows: "163. Un Hip-
edition published by J.H. Schneider, Amsterdam, popotame,ouCheval derivière, nommépar d'au-
in Dutch, with the abbreviated title Natuurlijke tresVachedeMer, donnépar MonsieurleBourgue-
Historie (Nat. Hist.), thetranslationof (1). Next, maître Brouwer, 1670." This addition is absent
thereis a note concerning the reason why thenote from the Dutch translation because by the time
is attributed to Allamand. This is followed by a whenitcouldhavebeen included, its contentswere
short "Summary of contents", in which I have superseded by note 26 below.
Bijdragen tot de Dierkunde, 61 (3) - 1992 139
2. Giraffa camelopardalis (Linnaeus, 1758) Summaryofcontents. - Allamandreceivedaliving
example of this monkey. It had been sent by Mr.
(Giraffe) Butini from Surinam, but it originally came from
"Description de laGiraffe" Guinea[West Africa],Allamandcommentedonits
good behaviour and described its characteristics,
Amsterdam,Hist, nat., XIII (1770): 17-19,pl. I. including the distinctive whitenose.
Paris,Hist, nat., Sup. 3 (1776):324-330 [noplate],
Amsterdam,Nat. Hist., XIII (1782):25-28, pi. 1/1. Remarks. - This was the first description of the
Allamand isnotidentified astheauthor,but it is clearfrom the Lesser white-nosedguenon. VonSchreber(1774, I:
text thathe wasresponsible for the contents. 103, 186, pl. XIXB: Der weißnasige Affe, Simia
petaurista) based his name on this articleby Alla-
Summary ofcontents. - ThegovernoroftheCape mand.Theidentity ofMr.Butiniis notclearandwe
of Good Hope, Mr. Tulbagh, sent the skin of a may assume that he was a sailor.
young Giraffe from South Africato thecollection
of the University of Leiden. Theanimal had been
killed far into the South African interior, which 4. Phacochoerusaethiopicus (Pallas, 1766)
proved that the animalwas not peculiar to Ethio-
pia. Allamandfoundthat its horns were solid like (Warthog)
thoseofa deer, butattachedto theskull. Henoted "LeSanglier d'Afrique"
that all legs were similar in length; i.e., the front
ones were not longer than the hindlegs. The skin Amsterdam,Hist, nat., XV(1771):45-49,pl.I.
was describedand 35external measurements were Paris, Hist, nat.,Sup. 3(1776):86-91, pl.XI.
given. Amsterdam,Nat. Hist.,V(1775): 100-105,pl. XXIV*
This note is the first in asection of"Additions del'éditeur de
Remarks. - Thisyoung Giraffewas captured dur- Hollande" comprisingnotes 4to 12.
ing an expedition to Namaqualand (the country
north of the Orange River) that lasted from June Summary of contents. - Allamand knew three
1761 to April1762andwas ledby HendrikHop. On specimens oftheWarthog: (1) askin sent fromthe
5 October 1761, a femaleGiraffewas shot and its Cape ofGoodHope in 1757,ofwhichonly thehead
youngwas captured; thelatterdiedfive days later. was preserved; (2) a young specimen sent alive
The skin of the calf was preserved and sent by from the Cape ofGood Hope by Tulbagh in 1770
governor Ryk Tulbagh (1699-1771) to Allamand and still alive in the menagerie of WillemV; and
in Leiden (Rookmaaker, 1983: 72; 1989: 291). It (3) anothersent fromtheCape by Tulbagh in 1765.
was first describedand depicted in an unexpected The last one was caught some 200 miles from the
place, in an unsigned paper in a Berlin journal Cape. It lived for about one yearin the menagerie
(Anonymous, 1769). ofWillemV. Thespecimen of 1765was described
with 13 measurements in a separate section
"Description du Sanglier d'Afrique" (pp. 48-49).
3. Cercopithecus petaurista (Schreber, 1774)
Remarks. - The first Warthog shipped from the
(Lesser white-nosed guenon) (Fig. 2) Cape ofGoodHope in 1757mayhavebeen sent by
"Le Blanc-Nez" governor Ryk Tulbagh. For some reason it must
have been impossible to preserve it in its entirety.
Amsterdam,Hist, nat., XIV (1770): 141-142,pl. XIL. Probably, theheadwas placed inthemuseumofthe
Paris,Hist, nat., Sup.7 (1780):67-71 [noplate]. Prince of Orange, but thedepository is not identi-
Amsterdam,Nat. Hist., XIV (1783): 182-184,pi. XIL. fiedeitherin thisnote by Allamandorin aletteron
The author isidentified inafootnote (XIV: 141):"cet articlea thissubject writtenby P.S. Pallasto Thomas Pen-
étéfourni par Mr. le Professeur Allamand". nant on 18 January 1766:"I have had the pleasure
140 L.C. Rookmaaker - Allamand'sadditionsto Buffon's Histolre Naturelle
to findin a Cabinetthe prepared skin ofthehead tified] source in Canada, Allamand received the
ofaBoar,withverylarge tusks, sendfromtheCape headofanadult "Orignal", ofwhich he recorded
of g.H.by thenameofHardloper,ofwhich Ishall four measurements.
give asketch also" (Urness, 1967: 12). Plate III illustratedthe American Caribou.This
Theyoung specimen inthemenagerie ofWillem drawing too was provided by the Duke of Rich-
V thatlivedfrom 1770untilat least 1771is not fur- mond, in whose estatethe animallived for several
ther described. It is unknownif it was preserved. years. This showedthat theCaribouandthe Rein-
Thethird Warthog mentionedby Allamandwas deerwere ratherdifferent species.
kept inthe menagerie ofWillem V in 1765-1766. PlateIVshowed aReindeerseenin 1769atafair
Whilealive, itwasdrawnby AertSchouman(Tuijn in Amsterdam. According to its keepers, Captain
& Van derFeen, 1969:70, fig. 1). All known pub- Bréof Schiedamhad seenfourof them swimming
lishedplates ofthisspecimen werebasedonSchou- intheNorthSea,some 50milesofftheDutchcoast.
man's drawing, which is preserved in the Artis Hecaught two youngones, butone diedbeforear-
Library, University of Amsterdam. According to rival in Holland. The surviving animal died four
Pallas (1766: 84), the animalinjured its keeper in months later while on exhibit in Groningen, The
themenagerie, afterwhichit was transferredto the Netherlands. This animal provided the "Descrip-
menagerieofBlauwJan inAmsterdam.Its remains tion du Renne" (XV: 52-53) with 13 measure-
probably went to the prince's museum at The Ha- ments. Petrus Camper (1771, XV: 53-56)
gue. describedanother Reindeerwhich arrived alive in
Groningen on 21 June 1771, but it diedsome 24
hours later.
5. Alcesalces (Linnaeus, 1758)and
Rangifer tarandus(Linnaeus, 1758)
Remarks. - Today, the European Elk and the
American "Orignal" or Moose are referred to the
(Elk and Reindeer)
samespecies, Alcesalces(Linnaeus, 1758).Like his
"L'Elan, le Caribou& le Renne"
predecessor, the third Duke ofRichmond (1735—
1806) maintained a menagerie on his estate at
Amsterdam,Hist, nat.,XV (1771):50-53,pis. 11-IV.
GoodwoodHouse, Sussex (Keeling, 1985:61-62).
Paris, Hist, nat.,Sup. 3(1776): 133-138 [noplates],
Amsterdam,Nat. Hist.,XV (1784): 112-115,pis. XII-XIV. With thehelpofSir GuyCharleton, LordDorches-
ter (1724-1808), Governor General of Canada
This is the second note in the section with "Additions de
from 1766 to 1778 (and again 1786-1796), the
l'éditeur de Hollande" (seeno. 4).
Duke was ableto import a numberofMoose. The
firsttwo specimens arrivedin 1766anddiedin 1767
Summary ofcontents. - Allamandpublished three
plates illustrating threedifferentspecies ofdeer:the and 1768.A drawingofone ofthese was evidently
Elk, the Caribou, and the Reindeer. Plate II sent to Allamand. A third Moosecame toLondon
showed the Elk. Buffon (Paris, 1764, XII: 79 ff.) in September 1770whereit was painted by George
hadstated thattheEuropean ElkandtheAmerican Stubbs anddescribed by WilliamHunterinanun-
published manuscript (Rolfe, 1983).
"Orignal" were identical, only differing in size.
TheAmerican Caribou and theEuropean Rein-
Dudley (1721) described the "Orignal" as being
over ten feethigh, while theElk wouldbe smaller. deer are now considered conspecific, Rangifer
A female "Orignal" had been sent to theDuke of tarandus(Linnaeus, 1758). The Reindeershownin
Hollandin 1769madethe species better known in
Richmond by General Carleton, Governor of Ca-
Europe. Petrus Camper (1722-1789), professor of
nada, in 1766.It was thenaboutone year old, five
feethigh; itlivedaboutnineor ten monthsonRich- anatomy at the University of Groningen, saw and
mond's estate at "Goedvoed".The Duke ordered drewit just beforeit expired on 13 February 1770.
a drawing to be made, which he sent to Allamand TheReindeerdescribedby Camper in the "Obser-
whopublished itonplateII.Fromanother[uniden- vations sur le Renne, faites à Groningue" was