Una breve historia de la colección de moluscos del Museo Nacional de Ciencias Naturales de Madrid con especial referencia a la colección malacológica de Alí Bey y Simón de Rojas Clemente

We have collected all entries of malacological material at the MNCN from its founding as Real Gabinete de Historia Natural in 1771 until 1935. In this study, we devote particular reference to the collection of molluscs of Manuel Godoy (1767-1851), Prince of Peace, who deposited it in 1804 in the Real Gabinete de Historia Natural. This collection, originally composed by vertebrates, invertebrates, fossils, minerals and plants, was given to Godoy by Domingo Badia i Leblich, alias Ali Bey and Simon de Rojas Clemente, two personages of great importance in the history of the Spanish nineteenth century. Although it has been impossible to locate in the current mollusc collection of the Museo Nacional de Ciencias Naturales most specimens cited in the original catalog, our work has allowed to update a scientific and historical information until now virtually unknown. Finally, the botanist Simon de Rojas Clemente is recognized as the main author of this collection, who devoted more effort to collecting material that Ali Bey, more engaged in preparing his next trip to North Africa.