Provancher, LÈON ABEL, naturalist, b. March 10, 1820, in the parish of Bècancourt, Nicolet county, Province of Quebec; d. at Cap Rouge, P. Q., March 23, 1892. He studied at the College and Seminary of Nicolet, was ordained September 12, 1844, and for the next twenty-five years labored zealously and fearlessly. He organized two pilgrimages to Jerusalem, one of which he conducted in person. In 1865 he established in his parish at Portneuf a confraternity of the Third Order of St. Francis, probably the first of its kind in Canada. From childhood he had a special love for the study of nature and all the time he could spare from his pastoral duties was devoted to the study and description of the fauna and flora of Canada; his extensive pioneer work in this domain won for him the appellation of the “Father of Natural History in Canada“. In 1868 he founded the “Naturaliste Canadien”, a monthly publication which he edited for twenty years, and from 1869 until his death he was engaged almost exclusively in scientific work. Among his chief writings are: “Traitè èlèmentaire de Botanique” (Quebec, 1858); “Fiore du Canada” (2 vols., Quebec, 1862); “Le Verger Canadien” (Quebec, 1862); “Le Verger, le Potager et le Parterre” (Quebec, 1874); “Faune entomologique du Canada” (3 vols., 1877-90); “De Québec à Jérusalem” (1884); “Une Excursion aux Climats tropicaux” (1890); “Les Mollusques de la Province de Québec”.
EDWARD C. PHILLIPS