PIERRE BELON. 109 



1518. It is supposed that his parents were poor; 

 and we accordingly find that he was indebted for his 

 education to Rene du Bellay^ bishop of Mans^ Wil- 

 liam Duprat, bishop of Clermont, and the Cardinals 

 of Tournon and Lorraine. At an early age, he com- 

 menced the study of medicine and botany, and 

 having distinguished himself among the pupils of 

 Valerius Cordus, professor of natural history at 

 Wirtemberg, was allowed to accompany his master 

 on the excursions which he was wont to make into 

 Germany and Bohemia, for the purpose of obtain- 

 ing specimens. On finishing his education he tra- 

 velled through Greece, Egypt, Palestine, and Asia 

 Minor, whence he returned to Paris in 1550, with 

 a valuable collection, after an absence of three years. 

 He now arranged the materials which he had thus 

 procured, and published several interesting works ; 

 notwithstanding the merit of which, he experienced 

 great difficulty in obtaining admission into the medi- 

 cal faculty of Paris. In 155 7^ he undertook another 

 journey into Italy, Savoy, Dauphiny, and Auvergne. 

 On his return, he engaged in a translation of Dioscori- 

 des and Theophrastus, and was preparing an import- 

 ant work on agriculture, when he was murdered in 

 the wood of Boulogne, as he was proceeding from 

 Paris to his place of residence at the Chateau de 

 Madrid. This happened in 1564, when he was 

 about forty-five years of age. 



His first great performance was the Natural His- 

 tory of Sea Fishes, with wood engravings, containing 

 a figure and description of the dolphin, and several 

 other species of the same family. It was published 

 at Paris in 1551, in quarto. In 1553, he gave to the 

 world another work on fishes, entitled De Aquatili- 



