164 
Cox. R. H. Beppomr.—By the death of Col. Beddome, F.L.S., 
which occurred at his residence, Sispara, West Hill, Putney, on 
23rd February, 1911, another gap has been made in the ranks of 
Indian officers who have devoted their-leisure to botanical studies. 
Col. Beddome, who at the time of his death was in his 81st year, 
was educated at Charterhouse and entered the Indian Army in 
1848. He rose to be Quartermaster and Interpreter to his 
regiment, the 42nd Madras Infantry, in 1856. As a young officer 
he showed a strong taste for natural history pursuits, devoting 
himself both to zoological and botanical studies. His aptitude in 
this direction was well and favourably known, and in 1857 when a 
Forestry Department was for the first time being organised in 
adras, with the late Dr. H. Cleghorn as Conservator, Lieut. 
Beddome was selected to act as Cleghorn’s senior assistant. Some 
years later, when Cleghorn became Inspector-General of Forests 
under the Government of India, Beddome succeeded him as 
Conservator in Madras and filled this appointment until he retired 
from the service of Government in 1882. His association with the 
Forest Department naturally led to Beddome giving more attention 
to botany than to zoology, and to a considerable extent to botany 
in relationship to the needs of forest officers. The results of his 
studies in this direction were embodied in his work on ‘the Trees 
of the Madras Presidency, published in 1863, followed by his 
‘Flora Sylvatica of Southern India,’ a work in two volumes with 
400 quarto plates issued between 1869 and 1874. <A report by 
Beddome on the Nelambur Teak Plantations was issued by the 
Government of Madras in 1878. Beddome, however, gave much 
attention to various families, the members of which are not of 
economic importance ; one of his earliest serious contributions to 
systematic botany was a meritorious resumé of the South Indian 
previous work, ‘The ‘ Ferns of British India’ was issued between 
Peninsula,’ copiously illustrated by reduced copies of the figures 
contained in his own bulkier and less accessible works. This work 
appeared in 1883 shortly after his retirement, and was subsequently 
augmented by a supplementary fasciculus. After his arrival in 
England Col, Beddome was for many years a frequent visitor to 
the Herbarium and Gardens at Kew, and in 1885 took a yigorous 
