That the _Lamarque_ of the botanist of the royal cabinet distinguished himself from all the _Lamarques_ of Bearn or of Bigorre, which it bears (_qu'il gise_) to this day in the Hautes-Pyrenees, Canton d'Ossun, we have many proofs: Aast at some distance, Bourcat and Couet all near l'Abbaye Laique, etc.

The village so determined is called in turn _Marca_, _La Marque_, _Lamarque_; names predestined to several destinations; judge then to the mercy of a botanist, _Lamarck_, _La Marck_, _Delamarque_, _De Lamarck_, who shall determine their number?
As to the last, I only explain it by a fantasy of the man who would de-Bigorrize himself in order to Germanize himself in the hope, apparently, that at the first utterance of the name people would believe that he was from the _outre Rhin_ rather than from the borders of Gave or of Adour.

Consequently a hundred times more learned and a hundred times more worthy of a professorship in the Museum, where Monet would seem (_entrevait_) much less than Lamarque." It may be added that Bearn was an ancient province of southern France nearly corresponding to the present Department of Basses-Pyrenees.

Its capital was Pau.
[8] We have been unable to ascertain the date when young Lamarck entered the seminary.

On making inquiries in June, 1899, at the Jesuits' Seminary in Amiens, one of the faculty, after consultation with the Father Superior, kindly gave us in writing the following information as to the exact date: "The registers of the great seminary were carried away during the French Revolution, and we do not know whither they have been transported, and whether they still exist to-day.