Louis-Jean-Marie Daubenton (1716–1800)

French naturalist. Studied theology at his father’s wish in Paris. Graduated in medicine at Reims in 1741. Assisted George Louis Leclerc, comte Buffon, from 1742. Wrote descriptions of 182 quadrupeds in the first part of Buffon’s Histoire naturelle (1749–1804). Appointed keeper and demonstrator of the cabinet of natural history in Paris, 1744. Lectured on natural history in the college of medicine, 1775; on rural economy at the Alfort school in 1783.