Dating the crustacean text and plates by Henri Milne Edwards and Pierre Hippolyte Lucas in Alcide d’Orbigny’s <i>Voyage l’Amérique dans méridionale</i> (1835–1847)

Alcide d’Orbigny’s nine-volume Voyage l’Amérique dans méridionale was published from 1835 to 1847, but the publication details of the various livraisons have been difficult to determine because the parts were not issued in chronological order. The evidence underlying previous attempts to establish the dates of the livraison comprising the different parts is discussed to establish when the 39 pages of the part devoted to Crustacés (in ten livraisons) by Henri Milne Edwards and Pierre Hippolite Lucas were published. In relation to the ambiguity surrounding the publication dates of livraisons 67 and 68, the present study proposes that they would have been available in France sometime during the seven and eleven-month period of 1843 prior to their arrival at the British Museum Zoology Library in August and December 1843, respectively. Consequently, a publication date of 1843 is proposed for the Crustacés described by Milne Edwards and Lucas in livraisons 67 and 68.