Wednesday, January 23, 2013

The Astrolabe Molluscs

Hand-coloured illustrations of invertebrate marine animals from the phylum Mollusca, collected during a French expeditionary voyage in the 1820s.

"The phylum Mollusca contains some of the most familiar invertebrates, including snails, slugs, clams, mussels, and octopuses."^

The images below have been cropped back to the copper-plate engraving margins and the backgrounds have been extensively cleaned of spots and stains. A few images have been colour boosted. The sampling below constitutes maybe one fifth of the total number of illustrated atlas plates.



Voyage de la Corvette (atlas) by Jules Dumont d'Urville, 1833
  • Sèche vermiculée*
  • Séche mamelonneé* 
  • *Cap de bonne-espérance




Voyage de la Corvette (atlas) by Jules Dumont d'Urville, 1833 c
  • Sépioteuthe austral
  • Sépioteuthe de maurice





Voyage de la Corvette (atlas) by Jules Dumont d'Urville, 1833 b
  • Sepioteuthe de dorei
  • Sepioteuthe lunulé




Voyage de la Corvette (atlas) by Jules Dumont d'Urville, 1833 a
  • Sèche deux lignes
  • Sèche à longs bras




Voyage de la Corvette (atlas) by Jules Dumont d'Urville, 1833 d
  • Calmar de Vanikoro
  • Sèche australe (Banc des Anguilles)
  • Sépiole linéolée (Nouv-Hollande)
  • Onychoteuthe armé (Célèbes)




Voyage de la Corvette (atlas) by Jules Dumont d'Urville, 1833 e
  • Poulpe lunulé
  • Poulpe cordiforme
  • Poulpe de Western
  • Poulpe membraneux




Voyage de la Corvette (atlas) by Jules Dumont d'Urville, 1833 21
  • Hélice alfour
  • Hélice mammillaire
  • Hélice granulée
  • Hélice papoua




Voyage de la Corvette (atlas) by Jules Dumont d'Urville, 1833 39
  • Doris Tuberculeuse
  • Doris Tachetée. Cuv.
  • Doris à bords noirs. Cuv.
  • Doris Limacine
  • Doris Carénée




Voyage de la Corvette (atlas) by Jules Dumont d'Urville, 1833 53
  • Aplysie de Hasselt, Variété. (Ile de France)
  • Aplysie de rumph, variéte. (Tonga-Tabou)
  • Aplysie de Tonga. (Tonga-Tabou)




Voyage de la Corvette (atlas) by Jules Dumont d'Urville, 1833 69
  • Buccin, Lime
  • Buccin, Raifort
  • Struthiolaire, Crénulée
  • Éburne, canaliculée
  • Buccin, Lisse
  • Buccin, Agathe




Voyage de la Corvette (atlas) by Jules Dumont d'Urville, 1833 89
  • Tonne perdrix
  • Son anatomie
  • Tonne pelure d'oigno
  • Tonne cassidiforme
  • Son anatomie




Voyage de la Corvette (atlas) by Jules Dumont d'Urville, 1833 103
  • Porcelaine tigre. (Tonga-Tabou)
  • Porcelaine anguleuse. (Tonga-Tabou)
  • Porcelaine oviforme. (Nouv-Guinée)
  • Porcelaine à verrues. (Tonga-Tabou)
  • Porcelaine arlequine. (Tonga-Tabou)
  • Porcelaine rongée. (Tonga-Tabou)
  • Porcelaine téte-de-serpent. (Ile-de-France)



Voyage de la Corvette (atlas) by Jules Dumont d'Urville, 1833 107
  • Animal de porcelaine tigre (femelle)
  • Anatomie de la mème (mâle)
  • Aneillaire à sillons blancee (femelle)
  • Aneillaire australe (mâle)
  • Strombe lambis (femelle)
  • Agathine mauritienne




Voyage de la Corvette (atlas) by Jules Dumont d'Urville, 1833 109
  • Strombe aile-deopapillion, femelle
  • Strombe grenouille, mâle
  • Strombe lambis, mâle
  • Variété Strombe lambis
  • Strombe bossu




Voyage de la Corvette (atlas) by Jules Dumont d'Urville, 1833 127
  • Phasianelle, Bulimoïde
  • Phasianelle, Ventrue
  • Turbo Marbré




Voyage de la Corvette (atlas) by Jules Dumont d'Urville, 1833 157
  • Oscabrion de Maurice
  • Oscabrion à côtes étroites
  • Oscabrion Zélandais
  • Oscabrion de Garnot. (Brainu)
  • Oscabrion violet
  • Oscabrion violet. variété
  • Oscabrion fascié
  • Oscabrion montieculaire
  • le méme variété
  • Oscabrion oculé




Voyage de la Corvette (atlas) by Jules Dumont d'Urville, 1833 159
  • Oscabrion aiguillonne
  • Oscabrion variété
  • Oscabrion glauque
  • Oscabrion birameux
  • Oscabrion peau de serpent
  • Oscabrion vert
  • Oscabrion lamelleux
  • Oscabrion marron
  • Oscabrion tulipe




Voyage de la Corvette (atlas) by Jules Dumont d'Urville, 1833 169
  • Tridacne faitiére
  • Tridacne safranée
  • La méme vue par dessous
  • Tridacne gigantésque




Voyage de la Corvette (atlas) by Jules Dumont d'Urville, 1833 195
  • Ascidie marron d'inde
  • Ascidie australe
  • son anatomie
  • Ascidie épineuse
  • Polycline cylindrique
  • Botrylle en grappe
  • Distome violet
  • Distome élégant
  • Eucéle rose
  • Aplide cérébriforme
  • Aplide pédonculé




Voyage de la Corvette (atlas) by Jules Dumont d'Urville, 1833 209
  • [Zoophytes]
  • Holothurie ananas
  • Détails anatomiques
  • Son poisson parasite. (du genre Fierasfer.)
  • Holothurie flammée




Voyage de la Corvette (atlas) by Jules Dumont d'Urville, 1833 211
  • [Zoophytes]
  • Holothurie épineuse N. avec son anatomie
  • Holothurie orangée
  • Fistulaire piquetée
  • Fistulaire de Dorey




Voyage de la Corvette (atlas) by Jules Dumont d'Urville, 1833 215
  • [Zoophytes]
  • Actinie, Magnifique
  • Actinie, Azur
  • Actinie. Verdâtre
  • Actinie à Globules





Voyage de la Corvette (atlas) by Jules Dumont d'Urville, 1833 217
  • [Zoophytes]
  • Actinie, Alcyonoïde
  • Actinie, Arborescente
  • Actinie, Rouge et blanche
  • Actinie, Clou




Voyage de la Corvette (atlas) by Jules Dumont d'Urville, 1833 225
  • [Zoophytes]
  • Fongie Actinie. (Nouvelle-Irlande)
  • Fongie à gros tubrcules. (Vanikoro)
  • Tubinolie rouge. (Nouv-Zélande)




Voyage de la Corvette (atlas) by Jules Dumont d'Urville, 1833 227
  • [Zoophytes]
  • Lobophyllie anguleuse var. (N.-Irlande)
  • Caryophyllie fasciculée. (Vanikoro)
  • Lobophyllie orangée. (Nouv.-Hollande)
  • Dendrophyllie rougeâtre. (Nouv.-Zélande)




Voyage de la Corvette (atlas) by Jules Dumont d'Urville, 1833 243
  • [Zoophytes]
  • Alcyon fléxible
  • Alcyon tuberculeux
  • Alcyon jaune
  • Alcyon rameux




Voyage de la Corvette (atlas) by Jules Dumont d'Urville, 1833 245
  • [Vers apodes -- ? = legless]
  • Borlasie à cinq lignes
  • Borlasie striée
  • Borlasie à bandelette | sa variété
  • Borlasie verte
  • Borlasie tricuspide
  • Borlasie de la Nouv.-Zélande
  • Borlasie à quatre points

Firstly, to quote myself:

"Jules Sébastien César Dumont d'Urville (1790-1842) had already established a name for himself when, as part of a French naval expedition to Greece in 1820, he recognized the true value of a recently unearthed statue. His advocacy resulted in the Louvre purchasing the Venus de Milo. 
As a lieutenant aboard the Coquille under Louis Duperrey, d'Urville first sailed around the world in 1822 and he surveyed the Falklands, Tahiti, New Zealand, New Holland and other Pacific islands. After a promotion he commanded L'Astrolabe when it sailed in 1826 on a 3 year voyage whose original mission was to investigate the fate of the La Pérouse expedition (the original Astrolabe was among the lost ships).
[Wiki]: "The new Astrolabe skirted the coast of southern Australia, carried out new relief maps of the South Island of New Zealand, reached the archipelagos of Tonga and Fiji, executed the first relief maps of the Loyalty Islands (part of French New Caledonia) and explored the coasts of New Guinea. [d'Urville] identified the site of La Pérouse’s shipwreck in Vanikoro (one of the Santa Cruz Islands, part of the archipelago of the Solomon Islands) and collected numerous remains of his boats. The voyage continued with the mapping of part of the Caroline Islands and the Moluccas. The Astrolabe returned to Marseille on 25 March, 1829, with an impressive load of hydrographical papers and collections of zoological, botanical and mineralogical reports, which were destined to strongly influence the scientific analysis of those regions. Following this expedition, he invented the terms Malaisia, Micronesia and Melanesia, distinguishing these Pacific cultures and island groups from Polynesia."
Te Ara: "On the completion of this voyage Dumont d'Urville expressed some regret that the efforts of his officers and men were not sufficiently recognised. However, on 8 August 1829 Charles X signed an act promoting Dumont d'Urville to the rank of post captain and on 17 August l'Académie Royale des Sciences de l'Institut received with warm approval his official report of the expedition. Dumont d'Urville was commanded by the King to publish an account of the voyage of the Astrolabe; comprising twelve volumes and five albums, it was completed by May 1835."



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