improvement of the often deplorable situation of German colonists in Brazil. B 1859 Reise durch Süd-Brasilien im Jahre 1858. 2 vols in 1. Leipzig: Brockhaus. Description: ix, 509; vii, 450; 22 cm. ¶¶ [2006], facs. Saarbrücken: Fines Mundi. Babault, Guy (1888–1963) 1860 Personal communication: email correspondence Reise durch Nord-Brasilien im Jahre 1859. 2 vols. Leipzig: with Babault’s grandson Charles Babault, Brockhaus. Description: xv, 446; vi, 369. July 2013 ■ Website of Charles Babault safaris ¶¶ [2006], facs. Saarbrücken: Fines Mundi. www.charlesbabaultsafaris.com/history.html, accessed 09-07-2015 ■ Beolens et al.2009, p. 23.

The French traveller, collector, naturalist and conser- vationist Guy Babault was born in 1888 and died in , in February 1963. He collected and hunted in British in the years 1912–1920. The account of his African safari of 1912–1913 was published as Chasses et recherches zoologiques en Afrique orientale anglaise 1913 (1917). He travelled and collected also in , India and the Western Himalaya; his journey of 1914 is narrated in his Recherches zoologiques ...dans les regions occidentales de l’Himalaya (1922). The First World War erupted while Babault was on an expedition in the Western Himalaya: he went home as soon as possible to serve in the war. In 1939 he joined the forces of the Free French and served in Morocco in the Second World War, returning afterwards to , to his house by Kilindini harbour near Mombasa, where he spent his time painting and collecting for the Muséum d’Histoire Naturelle in Paris. Two animals have been named after him, a shrew, Myosorex babaultii, and a fish, Simochromis babaulti.

1917 Chasses et recherches zoologiques en Afrique Orientale Anglaise 1913. Paris: Librairie Plon. Description: 207, many pl. with photogr.

[1921] Recherches zoologiques dans les provinces de l’Inde et dans les régions occidentales de l’Himalaya. Paris: Librairie Plon. Description: [4], iii, [b], 238, [colophon, b]; 80 b/w photogr. on 40 p., 4 maps (2 fold.). The year of publication is sometimes listed as 1921, in other sourc- es as 1922. The year of copyright is 1921. As it is stated at the back of the book that printing of the edition was finished December 21, 1921, the book was probably not available in bookstores before 1922.

Babault, Guy | 47 Bachelot de la Pylaie, Auguste Jean Marie baron length his many journeys, came out in 1942. On his (1786–1856) journeys he had taken many photographs and made Entry ‘Bachelot de la Pylaie (A.-J.-M.)’, NBG 4, col. films, which provided him with an abundance of 58–59 ■ Howgego 2004, p. 20. attractive illustration material for his publications. He made several movies, notably a movie on cactus The French botanist and archaeologist Auguste Jean hunting. Marie, baron Bachelot de la Pylaie was born on 25 The outbreak of WW II put an end to his journeys, but May, 1786 at Fougères and died on 12 October, 1856 he was able to earn a living with his trade in cactuses in Marseilles. He studied first in Laval, then in Paris and as a lecturer with movies. (He must have come to at the Muséum d’histoire naturelle, where he attend- terms with the Nazis somehow in order to be able to ed the lectures of the zoologist and palaeontologist do this). Georges Cuvier (1769–1832) and the zoologist and In 1951 he obtained an interesting post as keeper anatomist Henri Marie Ducroy de Blainville (1777– of the botanic garden ‘Les Cèdres’ near Cap Ferrat, 1850). famous for its succulent collection. Here he started From June to October 1816 he visited Newfoundland working on a complete survey of the cactus family, and the islands of Saint-Pierre et Miquelon (a group but left in 1955 after a quarrel with his employer. His of 8 tiny islands south of Newfoundland, belonging to survey, Die Cactaceae, appeared in six volumes (1958– France). He paid a second visit to Newfoundland from 1962) and was followed by a more compact handbook, June 1819 to November 1820. Bachelot de la Pylaie Das Kakteenlexikon, which came out posthumously. also travelled widely in France and in Africa. Backeberg died of a heart attack on 14 January, 1966. Scientifically Backeberg was completely self-taught, 1825 and in systematics a ‘splitter’, creating many new gen- Voyage à l’île de Terre-Neuve, contenant la description era and species in the cactus family. He often took lit- des îles voisines et des vues générales sur leur végétation. tle notice of the rules of nomenclature, nor did he have Paris: Lebel. Description: 131, fold. map; 21 cm. Also the patience or interest to take microscopic details available as an offprint from the Mémoires de la Société into account in his systematics; this brought him linnéenne de Paris 4 (1826), 417–547. into conflict with other, more scientifically oriented specialists. His systematic views are nowadays almost Backeberg, Curt (1894–1966) completely rejected. P. Bosman, ‘Fahrten und Abenteuer eines Wildpflanzenjägers’, Aanzet: historisch tijdschrift van 1930 geschiedenisstudenten, uitgegeven door de Stichting Kakteenjagd zwischen Texas und Patagonien. Berlin- Historische Studententijdschriften Utrecht, jaargang Charlottenburg: Brehm Verlag. Description: 127, illus. 16, 1997–1998, no.4, p. 12–27 ■ Hielscher & Hücking Dutch: 2002; the chapter ‘In stacheliger Wildnis’ offers a short ¶¶ 1932, Cactusjacht tussen Texas en Patagonië. biography of Backeberg. Translated by G.D. Duursma. Amsterdam: Kosmos. Description: 125, [3 pa]. The translation is rather Backeberg was born on 2 August, 1894 at Lüneburg. defective. He started his career in the export business, which was interrupted by WW I. Shortly after the war he 1942 married and settled in Hamburg, where he began his Stachlige Wildnis. 80 000 km durch die Urwelt Amerikas. own export business in 1925. Two years later in 1927 Neudamm & Berlin: J. Neumann. Description: viii, he met the cactus hunter A.V. Frič (1882—1944) and, 414, illus., map. fired by his stories, soon caught his enthusiasm for ¶¶ 1943, 2nd, enl. ed. Description: viii, 422, [2], 90 pl. cactuses. Within the next ten years he made nine trips with b/w photographs in photogravure, 16 maps, 3 pl. to South-America. Initially he combined cactus hunt- ¶¶ 1951, 3rd ed., Radebeul & Berlin: J. Neumann. ing with his export business, later he concentrated Description: 294, illus. The scientific part has been on the cactus hunting and started a nursery; at some omitted in this ed. point cultivating 700 species. His wife took care of the nursery during his absences. He worked for several Backhouse, James (1794–1869) sponsors, such as the firm of Kakteen-Haage, and the P. Davis, ‘Backhouse family (per.c.1770–1945)’, ODNB, American collector Victor Morawetz. His first book, accessed 23-10-2014 ■ M.B. Trott, ‘Backhouse, James Kakteenjagd, relates episodes form his travels, written (1794–1869)’ AusDB, accessed 25-03-2011 ■ Serle 1949, in a dramatic style, and illustrated with excellent pho- Entry ‘Backhouse, James (1794–1869)’. tographs. Backeberg was a gifted writer, and his estate includes several novels, poems, short stories, most of James Backhouse was born in 1794 at Darlington, them having remained unpublished. county Durham, in a Quaker family. Throughout the His book Stachlige Wildnis, which describes at some history of the Backhouse family in the years 1770 to

48 | Bachelot de la Pylaie, Auguste Jean Marie baron