In his "Remarks for the Natural History of the Quadrupeds of Paraguay and Rio de la Plata" of 1802, Felix de Azara (1742-1821) not only revised the identification and descriptions of many South American species made by Buffon; but also developed arguments against Buffon's thesis that the South American climate stimulated the degeneration of living beings. Moreover, Azara outlined an explanation of the origin of varieties of one species that, instead of appealing to the direct effects of climate and feeding, resorted to the emergence of hereditary fortuitous variations. This latter hypothesis was an alternative to the theory of degeneration proposed by Buffon and accepted, although in an attenuated way, by most pre-Darwinian naturalists.
Felix de Azara; Count of Buffon; Degeneration; Heredity; Varieties