Pierre Belon - Works by Belon

Naturalist, born near Le Mans, NW France. He travelled in Asia Minor, Egypt, and Arabia, and wrote valuable treatises on trees, herbs, birds, and fishes. He was one of the first to establish the homologies between the skeletons of different vertebrates.

On his return to France he was taken under the patronage of Cardinal de Tournon, who furnished him with means for undertaking an extensive scientific journey.

Belon, who was highly favored both by Henry II and by Charles IX, was assassinated in Paris one evening in April 1564, when coming through the Bois de Boulogne.

Besides the narrative of his travels he wrote several scientific works of considerable value, particularly the Histoire naturelle des estranges poissons (1551), De aquatilibus (1553), and L'Histoire de la nature des oyseaux (1555), which entitle him to be regarded as one of the first workers in the science of comparative anatomy.

Works by Belon

1551: Histoire naturelle des estranges poissons 1553: De aquatilibus 1553: Les observations de plusieurs singularitez et choses memorables trouvées en Grèce, Asie, Judée, Egypte, Arabie et autres pays étrangèrs 1555: revised edition of the Observations 1555: L'Histoire de la nature des oyseaux