Henri Drouët

Henri Drouet (Troyes, November 27, 1829 - Dijon, March 16, 1900) was a French malacologist who was able to study mollusks in southwestern France and in Macaronesia. Senior civil servant of the French public administration, he held several posts in France and in the French overseas regions. He ended his career as chief of staff of the Vienna Prefecture Administration. In 1857, he accompanied Arthur Morelet on a research trip to the Azores, the most extensive of all ever made on this archipelago, since only the island of San Jorge was not visited. The expedition explored the fauna and flora of the archipelago, in addition to preparing a scientific report handed over to King D. Pedro V, who received researchers along the way through Lisbon. The results of the observations were published in subsequent years, creating a scientific body that remains relevant. After resigning, he settled in Dijon, devoting himself to the work of the Academic Society of Agricultural, Scientific, Artistic and Artistic Disciplines, in which he was elected a partner in 1868. His research was the main goal of freshwater mollusks, with which he acquired an international projection, which became one of the most famous malacologists and specialists in the malacological fauna of southeastern France. He was the most famous specialist of his time in the Unionidae group, a family of freshwater mussels, often called headless freshwater mollusks, a taxon on which he published several articles. The naturalist’s attention also turned to various aspects of Azorean life, which are recorded in the itinerary and in the report presented to the King of Portugal D. Pedro V. In his work “Catalog de la Flor de Flor de Ile-Azores, dedicated to travel on the archipelago”, he lists a total of 736 species and varieties, including algae and land plants from the Azores.