After he went to Paris in order to begin medical studies, he met Alexandre Laboulbène, who introduced him to entomology.
After minor preliminary works, he conceived together with the miniaturist painter Jules Migneaux (1825-1898) a vast project describing and illustrating all European genera of beetles.
There was the Genera des coléoptères d’Europe, which started to get published in 1854, one of the most remarkable European book on beetles, due to the quality of its text, and especially to its magnificent illustrations, whose beauty and accuracy were never surpassed.
Unfortunately, he died at 34, leaving unfinished his work which was brought to an end by the prolific author Léon Fairmaire (1820-1906).
In addition, he wrote a small volume of Glanures entomologiques (2 parts, 1859–1860), to accommodate some smaller contributions he could not introduce in his great Genera.