 In a letter dated 1742 by the great naturalist Buffon, 1707-1788 (called a century later by Darwin “the first modern author to treat evolutionary ideas in a scientific spirit”), to a correspondent who had been sending specimens from his posting in Cayenne to Buffon's Jardin du Roi (the modern Jardin des Plantes, Paris), and who had asked for additional funding in order to be able continue his work there, he wrote “I have successfully petitioned an augmentation for you of 300 livres for which you are obliged to Monsieur de La Porte whose lively interest in the sciences led him to support your and my claims before Monsieur le Comte de Maurepas...and since he [La Porte] has the direct protection of our Cabinet of Natural History, which is currently very flush and in an enviable state, you would, Monsieur, do well to pay him your court”.By provisions dated from the 18th of January, 1764, Arnaud de La Porte was named Maître ordinaire de la Chambre des Comptes (Master Ordinary of the Exchequer) a position which conferred nobility on its bearer as well as upon his descendants.The nobility of the de La Porte family dates from this year.