Studied medicine at the University of Paris and received a doctorate in medicine 1823; 1832 professor at the École centrale des Arts et manufactures, Paris; 1838 member Academie des Sciences, Paris (successor of G. Cuvier); 1841 professor of entomology at the Muséum d’Histoire nationale; 1862 professor of zoology; 1864 director of the department of higher vertebrates at the Muséum d’Histoire nationale, Paris.