Gilbert Tirant (12 June 1848,
Lyon – 2 October 1899, Lyon) was a French government official and naturalist.
He studied medicine at Lyon, and following graduation in 1873 he traveled to
Tunisia, publishing "Voyage dans la régence de Tunis" (1874; co-author Fleury Rebatel) as a result. Afterwards he was stationed in
French Indochina, where he spent many years as an administrator in
Cochinchina,
Annam and
Tonkin. In 1894 he was appointed director of political affairs and protectorates in the Gouvernement général de l’Indochine. In 1898 he returned to France, where he died the following year of
malaria.[1][2]
He supplied the museum in Lyon with a rich collection of birds, fish and other animals from Cochinchina. He also described several new species of fish whose types are kept in the museum.[2]
Selected works
Les Oiseaux de la Basse-Cochinchine, 1879 – Fish of Lower Conchinchina.
Mémoire sur les poissons de la rivière de Hué, 1883 – Memoire on fish from the river at
Hué.
Note sur quelques espèces de poissons des montagnes de Samrong-Tong, Cambodge, 1884 – On some species of fish from the mountains of
Samraong Tong,
Cambodia.
Les bois odoriférants de la Cochinchine, 1885 – On aromatic wood of Cochinchina.
Notes sur les reptiles et les batraciens de la Cochinchine, 1885 – On reptiles and amphibians of Cochinchina.
Notes sur les poissons de la Basse-Cochinchine et du Cambodge, 1885 – Fish of lower Cochinchina and Cambodia.[3][4]