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Pierre Marie Arthur Morelet (1809-1892) was an amateur scientist who devoted himself to both malacology and botany. He organised several expeditions, of which those to Cuba and Central America (1846-1848) and the Azores (1857) are especially noteworthy. His contributions to malacology were thus significant and we have reconstructed his legacy with a survey of archival sources and his type material in the historical collections of several museums. The resulting monograph is made up of two parts.
In the first part we present a bibliography, some remarks on the whereabouts of his collection, and more than 200 recovered letters to contemporary malacologists, such as, Crosse, Fischer, Baudon and Dautzenberg. His contact network has been reconstructed using data from his correspondence and his publications. This part offers an unique view into the world of malacology in the second half of the nineteenth century.
In the second part a bibliography of Morelet is presented, as well as all his newly introduced taxa, with detailed documentation and figures of the species. More than 80 per cent of his type material has been rediscovered and original figures, if they exist, have been reproduced for the remaining species. Of the taxa represented by actual shell material, more than 150 are now figured for the first time. Pierre Marie Arthur Morelet (1809-1892) and His Contributions to Malacology has indices for both taxonomy and persons mentioned, and is a must-have for anyone interested in non-marine taxonomy and the history of malacology.
