John Anderson. 115 



dency of the Duke of Connaught. Dr. Anderson was on the Execu- 

 tive Committee, and was chairman of the Fine Art Section. His 

 enjoyment of this work led him to devote the furlough immediately 

 following the close of the exhibition to a visit to Japan, accompanied 

 by his wife. The summer of 1884 was spent in traversing that 

 interesting country, and through introductions from the Indian 

 Government, the Japanese officials gave every facility for a thorough 

 inspection of their art treasures. 



Having retired from the superintenderitship of the Calcutta Museum 

 in 1887, and the elaboration of the materials amassed during his Indian 

 career being completed, Dr. Anderson turned his attention to the fauna 

 of the Mediterranean coast of Africa. Visiting Algeria and Tunisia in 

 the winter of 1890-91, he collected a small but not unimportant series 

 of mammals and reptiles, on which he reported in a paper read before 

 the Zoological Society in 1892. But abandoning this comparatively 

 well-explored district, he decided to concentrate his energies on the 

 investigation of the vertebrate fauna of Egypt and neighbouring 

 countries, a work which absorbed the whole of his activity down to his 

 last moments, and by which the British Museum has been greatly 

 enriched ; the materials gathered with this object being generously 

 presented by him to the national collection as soon as worked out. 

 Full of enthusiasm in his new work, he made repeated visits to Egypt, 

 proceeding even so far as Suakim, and succeeded in enlisting the co- 

 operation of officials and travellers in Egypt, the Soudan, and Arabia, 

 with the result of forming a large and important collection of reptiles 

 from these countries, accounts of which have appeared in various 

 papers, in a small volume, ' Herpetology of Arabia' (1896), and finally 

 in an admirable and lavishly-illustrated monograph of the Reptiles 

 and Batrachians, forming the first volume of his ' Zoology of Egypt,' 

 published in 1898. This great work, through the care with which it 

 has been prepared and the beauty and accuracy of its coloured illustra- 

 tions, mostly executed from living specimens by an accomplished artist 

 (Mr. P. J. Smit), may be said to constitute one of the noblest contri- 

 butions to faunistic zoology which has ever appeared. It would very 

 soon have been followed by a similar volume on the Mammals but for 

 the author's sudden death. Since his return from India, Dr. Ander- 

 son's health had never been perfectly satisfactory, and a catarrhal 

 affection, combined with weakness of the heart, had, of late years, fre- 

 quently prostrated him and confined him to his house for weeks at a 

 time. A chill contracted whilst staying at Buxton in the summer of 

 1900 terminated there fatally, after two days' illness, on August 15th. 

 He was interred in Edinburgh. 



Allusion has been made above to the unfinished work on the 

 Mammals of Egypt, but it is a satisfaction to know that its publication 

 is only deferred, and will be carried out under the direct supervision of 



