Belon, Peter

, M. D. of the faculty of Paris, was born about 1518, in the Maine. He travelled into Judea, Greece, and Arabia and published in 1555, in 4to, a relation of whatever he had remarked most worthy of notice in those countries. He composed several other works, now rare, which were much esteemed at the time, for their correctness, and the erudition with which they abound. The chief of them are, 1. “De Arboribus coniferis,” Paris, 1553, 4to, with plates. 2. “Histoire de la nature des Oiseaux,” 1555, folio. 3. “Portraits d'Oiseaux,” 1557, 4to. 4. “Histoire des Poissons,” 1551, 4to, with plates. 5. “De la nature et diversity des Poissons,” 1555, 8vo. The same in Latin. He was preparing other works for the press, when he was assassinated from private resentment near Paris, in 1564. Henry II. and Charles IX. vouchsafed him their esteem, and the cardinal de Tburnon his friendship, defraying the expences of his travels. ²