62 LAMARCK, HIS LIFE AND WORK 



two professorships thus formed were given to Latreille 

 and De Blainville. 



At the session of the Assembly of Professors held 

 December 8, 1829, Geoff roy St. Hilaire sent in a 

 letter to the Assembly urging that the department of 

 invertebrate animals be divided into two, and referred 

 to the bad state of preservation of the insects, the 

 force of assistants to care for these being insufficient. 

 He also, in his usual tactful way, referred to the 

 "complaisance extreme de la parte de M. De La- 

 marck" in 1793, in assenting to the reunion in a 

 single professorship of the mass of animals then 

 called " insectes et vermes." 



The two successors of the chair held by Lamarck 

 were certainly not dilatory in asking for appoint- 

 ments. At a session of the Professors held December 

 22, 1829, the first meeting after his death, we find the 

 following entry : " M. Latreille 6crit pour exprimer 

 son desir d'etre pr^sente comme candidat k la chaire 

 vacante par le d^ces de M. Lamarck et pour rappeler 

 ses titres ci cette place." 



M. de Blainville also wrote in the same manner : 

 " Dans le cas que la chaire serait divis^e, il demande 

 la place de Professeur de I'histoire des animaux inar- 

 ticul^s. Dans le cas contraire il se pr^sente 6gale- 

 ment comme candidat, voulant, tout en respectant 

 les droits acquis, ne pas laisser dans I'oubli ceux qui 

 lui appartiennent." 



January 12, 1830, Latreille* was unanimously elected 



* Latreille was born at Brives, November 29, 1762, and died Feb- 

 ruary 6, 1833. He was the leading entomologist of his time, and to 

 him Cuvier was indebted for the arrangement of the insects in the 



