KAUP

kaup, johann jakob (1803-1873), german naturalist, was born at darmstadt on the 10th of april 1803. after studying at gottingen and heidelberg he spent two years at leiden, where his attention was specially devoted to the amphibians and fishes. he then returned to darmstadt as an assistant in the grand ducal museum, of which in 1840 he became inspector. in 1829 he published _skizze zur entwickelungsgeschichte der europaischen thierwelt_, in which he regarded the animal world as developed from lower to higher forms, from the amphibians through the birds to the beasts of prey; but subsequently he repudiated this work as a youthful indiscretion, and on the publication of darwin's _origin of species_ he declared himself against its doctrines. the extensive fossil deposits in the neighbourhood of darmstadt gave him ample opportunities for palaeontological inquiries, and he gained considerable reputation by his _beitrage zur naheren kenntniss der urweltlichen saugethiere_ (1855-1862). he also wrote _classification der saugethiere und vogel_ (1844), and, with h. g. brown (1800-1862) of heidelberg, _die gavial-artigen reste aus dem lias_ (1842-1844). he died at darmstadt on the 4th of july 1873.