58 LAMARCK, HIS LIFE AND WORK 



Dr. Mondifere's account is as follows. Having 

 found in the Moniteur the notice of the burial services, 

 as above stated, he goes on to say : 



" Armed with this document, I went again to the 

 cemetery of Montparnasse, where I fortunately found 

 a conservator, M. Lacave, who is entirely au courant 

 with the question of transformism. He therefore in- 

 terested himself in my inquiries, and, thanks to him, I 

 have been able to determine exactly where Lamarck 

 had been buried. I say had been, because, alas ! he 

 had been simply placed in a trench off on one side 

 {fosse ii part), that is to say, one which should change 

 its occupant at the end of five years. Was it neg- 

 ligence, was it the jealousy of his colleagues, was 

 it the result of the troubles of 1830? In brief, there 

 had been no permission granted to purchase a burial 

 lot. The bones of Lamarck are probably at this 

 moment mixed with those of all the other unknown 

 which lie there. What had at first led us into an 

 error is that we made the inquiries under the name of 

 Lamarck instead of that of de Monnet. In reality, 

 the register of inscription bears the following men- 

 tion: 



" ' De Monnet de Lamarck buried this 20 Decem- 

 ber 1829 (85 years, 3d square, 1st division, 2d line, 

 trench 22.' 



" At some period later, a friendly hand, without 

 doubt, had written on the margin of the register the 

 following information : 



'"To the left of M. Dassas.' 



" M. Lacave kindly went with us to search for the 

 place where Lamarck had been interred, and on 

 the register we saw this : 



" ' Dassas, ist division, 4th line south, No. 6 to the 

 west, concession 1 165-1829.' On arriving at the 

 spot designated, we found some new graves, but 

 nothing to indicate that of M. Dassas, our only mark 



