Gaetano Osculati (1808-1894), Italian naturalist and traveller. Osculati travelled widely, collecting many specimens. His early travels from 1830 included Greece, Egypt and Asia Minor (modern Turkey). He then embarked on his first expedition to South America from 1834 to 1836. In the 1840s he visited Arabia, Armenia, Persia, and Malabar (India). In 1846, he journeyed to Canada, the USA and the Antilles (in the Caribbean), before returning to South America. From Quito in Ecuador, he explored the course of the River Napo, a tributary of the Amazon. His account of this expedition was published in 'Esplorazione delle regione equatoriali lungo il Napo ed il fiume delle Amazzoni' (1854). Artwork published in 1856. |