A naturalist who worked in the field as well as in the study, Henri-Louis Duhamel du Monceau, Inspector General of the Marine and eminent member of the Royal Academy of Sciences in Paris, worked for many years on his Traité général des pêches et histoire des poissons qu'elles fournissent, a general treatise on fishing and a history on the fish it provides, published between 1769 and 1782. With its exotic fauna, such as walrus, seals, otters, beavers, whales, porpoises and wolverines, as well as its traditional cod, salmon, eels and sturgeon, New France provided Duhamel du Monceau with material for many observations, in which his accurate anatomical descriptions vied with the quality of the comparisons and images.

The Flora and Fauna
Observations on the fauna of Canada, followed by a questionnaire on the different kinds of fishing practised in the regions of Québec and Montréal, by Henri-Louis Duhamel du Monceau, 2nd half of the 18th century
FR CHAN 127 AP 3 dossier 9