Between 1843 - 1847, a french expedition led by Castelnau and sponsored by the French government explored the Central Parts of South America, from Rio de Janeiro to Lima, and from Lima to Para. They arrived in Rio de Janeiro with the French boat 'Petit-Thouards' and set course to Lima, passing through Minas Geraes, Goias and Mato Grosso. Exploring the Paraguay river, travelled to Bolivia, visited La Paz and arrived in Lima, where they remained some time. Next they headed to the source of the Amazon river and from there they went to Para by sailboat.

During their journey, they collected an enormous amount of botanical and zoological observations. Based on these valuable observations, a monumental 15 volume work was created in the years thereafter (1855-1859), titled: "Expédition dans les parties centrales de l'Amérique du Sud, de Rio de Janeiro à Lima, et de Lima au Para: exécuté par ordre du gouvernement Français pendant les années 1843 à 1847".
In part VII by F. Castelnau, P. Gervais, H. Lucas, H. Hupé, A. Guichenot & M. Desmurs, "Animaux nouveaux ou rares recueillis pendant l'expédition dans les parties centrales de l' Amérique du Sud", there is a subvolume about molluscs by H. Hupé (1857), with 22 handcoloured lithographs by Oudart. Apple snails (Ampullariidae) are also part of this work. In total 29 species are described, and a subset of these are depicted on 3 colour plates.

Unfortunately, these books are quite rare and difficult to access. To make the Ampullaridae plates and descriptions available to a broader public, a electronic version has been made that can be viewed and printed. The quality of the illustrations isn't optimal, and if someone has access to these books, please help us by providing better quality photographs. The text has been digitized and the lay-out is preserved as much as possible.

View the Ampullaires by H. Hupé (Adobe acrobat document, 390kb)

Editing and reconstruction: Stijn A.I. Ghesquiere

The original lay-out of the book has been preserved as much as possible.
No copyrights are claimed on this electronic version of the book.
Hopefully more and more old books become available in an electronic version.

The plates from the book are offered for sale by the George Glazer Gallery. Also visit this link for more info.
Colour pictures of the book depicted here are courtesy of the George Glazer Gallery.

http://www.applesnail.net