Latreille, Pierre André

Pierre Latreille was born on November 29, 1762 at Brive, in the province of Limousin, France. An illegitimate child of the baron d’Espargnac, he was abandoned by his mother at a church in Brive. His biological father eventually made financial arrangements for his son’s education, and he was educated at the Collège des Doctrinaires at Brive and the Collège du Cardinal Lemoine at Paris. He also was awarded a Master of Arts from the Paris University in 1780, entered a seminary and was made a Deacon in 1786. He likely was made a priest, though there is no record of this, and he was acting vicar at Lostanges in October 1789. At this time he became interested in entomology, living on the income that his father, the général baron d’Espargnac, had established for him. However, the French Revolution would cause him to be imprisoned, and sentenced to death or deportation. His interest in insects was recognized while he was in prison, and a sympathetic official terminated Latreille’s sentence....