LIXNB/VN SOCIETY OF LONDOX. T^;} 



In 1860 Cleghorn retired and Beddomo suoeeeded him; in 18(53 

 he brought out, mainly for the use of foresters and phinters, his 

 ' Trees of the Madi'as Presidency,' and this was followed by 

 tlie 'Flora Sylvatica for Southern India,' giving descriptions 

 with figures of all the principal timber trees and large shrubs of 

 South India and Ceylon. The three hundred and thirty quarto 

 plates, executed under the author's supervision by native artists, 

 are remarkable for clearness aiul accuracy. Combined with this 

 work is a ' Foresters' Manual ' of the local Flora, illustrated by 

 twenty-nine lithographed sheets of analytical drawings of genera 

 not represented in the main series. This work appeared in parts 

 during 1869 to 1874, when it was compleTed. Side by side with 

 these substantially official labours, Beddome steadily adhered to 

 Natural History as a personal pursuit in such leisure as his public 

 duties permitted. Even after his appointment as Conservator 

 he had communicated papers on zoological subjects to different 

 publications, including the Zoological Society's ' Proceedings' for 

 1863 (pp. 225-229); but he gradually limited the field of studv 

 to Botany, and from 1863 bis work was mainly concentrated on 

 Ferns and their allies. 



In 1863 he published the 'Ferns of Southern India'; from 

 that year to 1870 parts appeared of the 'Ferns of British India,' 

 dealing with those species which, not having been recorded from 

 the area covered by the ' Ferns of Southern India,' were not 

 treated in that work. 



A Supplement to these two publications jointly was issued in 

 1876, bringing the total number of ferns figured up to 661 ; with 

 tlie majority of which the author was directly acquainted. 



Although now devoting his energies mainly to Fdicales, between 

 1869 and 1874 Beddome brought out three hundred figures with 

 descriptions of remarkable flowering plants from South India and 

 Ceylon nnder the title of ' Icones Plantarum Indite Orientalis ' 

 (Madras : Gantz Brothers, 1874, 4to), 



Ketiring from the service o£ the Crown with the rank of 

 Colonel in 1882, he published in the year following his 'Hand- 

 book to the Ferns of British India, Ceylon, and the Malay 

 Peninsula ' (Thacker & Spink, Calcutta, 1883). This was based 

 on the larger works already mentioned — that is to say, the 

 'Ferns of Southern India' and 'Ferns of British India,' — the 

 descriptions, however, being more succinctly framed and the 

 figures (woodcuts) being reduced from the original illustrations. 

 The ' Handbook ' was designed to meet the wants of a wider 

 public than the previous undertakings, and met with an excellent 

 reception both with the public and in scientific circles. 



Beddome made his home at Putney, where he devoted himself 

 enthusiastically to horticulture, while in no wav relaxing his 

 interest in the taxonomic side of Pteridology. A frequent visitor 

 to Kew, and a contrib\itor from time to time of rare or interesting 

 plants to the Royal Gardens, he also gave vahiable aid to the 

 staff of the Herbarium by naming sets of Ferns and their allies 



LIXN. SOC. PROCEEDINGS. — SESSION 1910-1911. d 



