42 Annual Report. [Feu. 



The time at which Dr. Anderson arrived in India was fortunate in 

 another respect. It coincided with a great impulse given to Indian 

 zoology by the publication of Jerdon's " Birds of India," the last 

 volume of which appeared in 1864, and with the presence in Calcutta 

 of a larger number of men interested in the study of the fauna than 

 were assembled there at any time before or since. Amongst these men 

 were Jerdon himself, Ferdinand Stoliczka, Francis Day, and Valentine 

 Ball, all of whom have now passed away. Probably at no time has so 

 much progress been made in the study of Indian Vertebrata as in the 

 years 1864-74, and in this work Dr. Anderson took an important part. 



The new Indian Museum, which now towers over the other build- 

 ings of Cliowringhec, was not ready for occupation till J 875, biit mean- 

 time Dr. Anderson had been busily engaged in adding to the zoological 

 collections and in getting them into order. One of his first tasks was 

 the bringing together of an ethnological series, for which the condi- 

 tions of Calcutta are favourable. Amongst other important additions 

 made by him was that of a fine scries of human skulls representing 

 vai'ious Indian races. Another very valuable museum series brought 

 together by him consisted of a good collection of Indian Chelonia : 

 skeletons, carapaces and stuifcd specimens. 



The work in Calcutta was interrupted by two important expedi- 

 tions to Upper Burma and Yunnan, to both of which Dx*. Anderson was 

 attached as naturalist and medical officer. Both expeditions were 

 designed to pass through China to Canton or Shanghai, but in neither 

 case was it found practicable to cany out the original plan. The first 

 expedition, commanded by Colonel E. B. Sladen, left Calcutta at the 

 end of 1867, proceeded as far as Momein in Yunnan, and returned to 

 India in November 1868 ; the second, under the command of Colonel 

 Horace Bi'owne, left in January 1875, but was treacherously attacked 

 by the Chinese before it had proceeded more than three marches beyond 

 the Burmese frontier, and compelled (o return, Mr. Margery, of the 

 Chinese Consular Service, who had been despatclied to accompany the 

 mission, and who had preceded it by a march, being murdered Avith 

 sevei'al of his followers. The difficulties experienced by both missions 

 from the time they crossed the frontier between Burma and China, and 

 the opposition of the inhabitants of the country, seriously interfered 

 with zoological observations, and the collection of specimens was gener- 

 ally impossible ; but still some important additions were made to the 

 previous knowledge of the fauna. A full account of the journey was 

 given in Dr. Anderson's reports and in a work by him, entitled " Jlanda- 

 lay to Momein," published in 1876. The detailed observations on 

 zoology, supplemented by important notes on some Indian and Burmese 



