•
Steller's sea cow is hunted to extinction. •
Josephus Nicolaus Laurenti becomes
auctor of the
class of
reptiles through his '
on the poisonous function of reptiles and amphibians. He also publishes ' describing the
olm, one of the first accounts of a cave animal in the western world. •
Caspar Friedrich Wolff begins publication of "De Formatione Intestinarum" in the
Mémoires of The Imperial Academy of Arts and Sciences (
Saint Petersburg), a significant work in the science of
embryology. •
Lazzaro Spallanzani challenges the
spontaneous generation of
cellular life. ==Botany==