Vol. 62.] ANNIVERSARY ADDRESS OE THE PRESIDENT. lvit 



more especially in regard to the study of the geographical dis- 

 tribution of animals, in which our late colleague and Treasurer 

 was one of the most distinguished writers. The eldest son of 

 William Blanford, he was born at 27 Bouverie Street, Whitefriars, 

 London, on October 7th, 1832, and was educated at first with a 

 view to succeeding his father in business. Brighton first and Paris 

 afterwards were the places where young Blanford received his 

 early education ; and on his return from the latter city in 1851, he 

 appears for a short time to have actually begun work in business. 

 Fortunately plans were changed, and in October of the following- 

 year he matriculated for a two years' course at the Royal School of 

 Mines, where he passed out with high distinction, having gained 

 two scholarships. On leaving the School of Mines, in 1854, the 

 successful scholar was sent to pursue a course of study in mining 

 and mineralogy at Freiberg ; but, while thus engaged, he was 

 offered and accepted a post on the Geological Survey of India, 

 which was then being fully organized and equipped under the 

 superintendentship of Dr. T. Oldham. Reaching India in September 

 1855, Blanford was despatched on his first field-work in the 

 following January, the Talchir Coalfield of Orissa being the 

 scene of his initial labours, and it was here that he made his 

 mark by urging the glacial origin of the now well-known Talchir 

 boulders. 



To follow Blanford's earlier career on the Indian Survey would 

 manifestly be out of place on this occasion, and it must suffice to 

 state that, after doing much good work in surveying the Raniganj 

 Coalfield and the rocks of Burma, he was appointed Deputy 

 Superintendent in 1862, with special charge of the Bombay Presi- 

 dency. The geology of the Narbada and Tapti Valleys, together 

 with flying visits to Sind and Cutch, occupied much of his attention 

 till 1866, in September of which year he was deputed to join the 

 Abyssinian Expedition under Lord Napier, as geologist and 

 naturalist. This expedition may be said to have formed a turning- 

 point in his career, for there can be little doubt that it was while 

 he was engaged on his Geology & Zoology of Abyssinia that his 

 attention was first seriously directed to the problems of zoological 

 geography. On his return to India in October 1868, with the 

 Abyssinian war-medal as a recognition of his services, Blanford was 

 engaged in working out his collections, a task which he was enabled 

 to complete by being granted six months' leave on duty to England 

 in the following spring. The results of his work were published in 

 vol. lxii. e 



