Marie Firmin Bocourt was a Frenchzoologist and artist. As a young man, he worked as a preparateur for the zoologist Gabriel Bibron, later serving as a museum artist. In 1861, he was sent to Thailand, where he explored the fauna and brought back an important collection of specimens. He collaborated with Auguste Duméril on a series called Mission scientifique au Mexique et dans l'Amérique Centrale, a result of Bocourt's scientific expedition to Mexico and Central America in 1864–1866, in one part during the French Intervention in Mexico led by Napoleon III. Auguste Duméril died in 1870, and the project was continued by Bocourt with assistance from Léon Vaillant, François Mocquard and Fernand Angel. With Vaillant, he published a study on fishes, "Études sur les poissons ", that was included in Mission scientifique au Mexique et dans l'Amérique Centrale. As an artist, he specialized in engravings, doing portraits of contemporary people as well as zoological illustrations. , chromolithic print by Bocourt et Fagnet, produced for Alfred Grandidier's L'Histoire Politique, Physique et Naturelle de Madagascar.
Taxa named in honor of Bocourt
Bocourt has a number of zoological species and subspecies named after him, including the following.
Subsessor bocourti, a snake native to Southeast Asia
Nota bene: A binomial authority in parentheses indicates that the species was originally described in a different genus.
Works
Bocourt, F. Descriptions de quelques crotaliens nouveaux appartenant au genre Bothrops, recueillis dans le Guatemala. Ann. Sci. Nat., Zool., ser. 5, vol. 10, p. 201–202.
Duméril, A., Bocourt, F. Études sur les reptiles et les batraciens. en la serie "Mission scientifique au Mexique et dans l'Amérique centrale., recherches zoologiques", 3e partie, 1ère section. Paris: Imprimerie Impériale.
Duméril, A., Bocourt, F. & Mocquard, F.. Mission scientifique au Mexique et dans l'Amérique Centrale. Recherches zoologiques. Paris: Imprimerie Impériale
Bocourt, F. Caractères d'une espèce nouvelle d'iguaniens le Sceleporus acathhinus. Ann. Sci. Nat., Zool. 17: 1.
Bocourt, F. Deux notes sur quelques sauriens de l'Amérique tropicale. Ann. Sci. Nat., Zool. Paleontol. 19: 1–5.
Bocourt, F. Note sur quelques espèces nouvelles d'iguaniens du genre Sceleporus. Ann. Sci. Nat., Zool. 17: 1–2.
Bocourt, F. Études sur les reptiles. Part 3, Sect. 1, Book. 2–15, pp. 33–860, Mission Scientifique au Mexique et dans l'Amérique Centrale - Recherches Zoologiques. Paris, Imprimerie Imperiale. p. 1012
Bocourt, F. Note sur quelques reptiles du Mexique. Ann. Sci. Nat., Zool.3: 1–4.
Bocourt, F. Note sur quelques reptiles de l'Isthme de Tehuantepec donnés par M. Sumichrast au Muséum. J. Zool. 5: 386–411.
Bocourt, F. Etudes sur les reptiles. Miss. Sci. Mexique, Rech. ZooL. Book. 6:361-440, p. 21–22, 22A-22D