With my acknowledgement to Magno Urbano,
for the English version of this note

According to Bocage, João da Silva Feijó, disciple of Domingos Vandelli, was the first naturalist to collect specimens of Macroscincus coctei in Branco islet (Cape Verde). A skull and a skin of one of these individuals are certainly still part of the collections on the Paris Natural History Museum. Bocage knew Feijó has sent specimens to the Ajuda Cabinet, in 1784, as can be seen on a list of objects sent by Feijó from Cape Verde to Ajuda – today archived on the Museu Bocage (Lisbon) –, where there's the reference to “3 lagartos” (3 lizards). That one is the first known reference to the famous extinct species.

I am happy to inform that I have discovered a second reference of the naturalist in a manuscript, archived on the Arquivo Histórico Ultramarino (Lisbon); that's a letter addressed by Feijó to the minister Martinho de Mello e Castro, sent from the Fogo Island and dated August 4th, 1786. On this letter Feijó speaks about his observations of the volcanic eruption (see Guedes & Arruda, 2000) and other matters, includind the saurians. He also shows his intention to visit the Barlavento Islands, where he will collect fishes, the bizarre lizards and birds from the two Desertas (the Desertas are three: Raso, Branco and Santa Luzia):

“Depois visitarei as ilhas de Barlavento, onde farei toda a diligência de remeter a V.Exª uma completa colecção de peixes, e os lagartos esquisitos, e pássaros das duas desertas”. João da Silva Feijó (AHU. Caixa 43. Doc. 53-A).

Maria Estela Guedes
Odivelas, 14.06.2008

References

BOCAGE, J.V.B. (1873) - Note sur l' habitat de l' Euprepes coctei Dum. et Bibr.. Proceedings of the Zoological Society of London: 703-704.

BOCAGE, J.V.B. (1873) - Sur l' habitat et les caractères zoologiques du "Macroscincus coctei" ("Euprepes coctei " Dum. et Bibr.). J. Sci. math., phys. nat., 4 (16): 295-306.

BOCAGE, J.V.B. (1874) - Notice sur l' habitat et les caractères du Macroscincus coctei (Euprepes coctei Duméril & Bibron). Journal de Zoologie, Paris, 3: 1-15. Mesmo trabalho que o anterior, com uma estampa do crânio estudado por Cuvier.

FEIJÓ, João da Silva (1786) – Carta da Ilha do Fogo, 4 de Agosto de 1786, para Martinho de Mello e Castro. Arquivo Histórico Ultramarino. AHU. Caixa 43. Doc. 53-A. Anexos à memória sobre a nova erupção.

GUEDES (1990) - Memórias do lagarto caboverdiano (Macroscincus coctei). O Escritor, Revista da Associação Portuguesa de Escritores. Nova Série, 1, s/d (Dep. legal 1990).
In: http://triplov.com/cabo_verde/coctei/

GUEDES, Maria Estela & ARRUDA, Luís (2000) - João da Silva Feijó, naturalista brasileiro em Cabo Verde. In: As Ilhas e o Brasil. Região Autónoma da Madeira, pp: 509-524. Em linha:
http://triplov.com/hist_fil_ciencia/feijo/feijo1.html and following pages.