Quélet discovered several species of fungi and was the founder of the Société mycologique de France, a society devoted to mycological studies.

[1] Quélet, having been born in Montécheroux, Doubs, to a farmer, was soon orphaned, and spent his childhood with and was raised by his aunts.

In his youth, he is known to have shown a great interest in mycology and botany in general, but also other subject areas such as ornithology and malacology, the study of mollusks.

During the last years of his life, Quélet broadened his range of study, perhaps due to eccentricity, as is claimed by some, and began to have new interests in some of the things that fascinated him as a youth – ornithology and malacology, among others.

[1] Quélet has been described to be a combination of Petter Adolf Karsten and Paul Kummer, as far as his conducting of his studies and on his mycological researching skills, as well as by the number of new species he was able to find.