39 
sister, “ was any youth more industrious ; up at three or four in 
the inorniiig, reading, making notes, sketching, stufling birds* 
collecting butterflies and beetles, and teaching himself German.” 
He took a room in London to have readier access to books, and 
passed much of his time at the Lritisli Museum, in which, or in 
some kindred institution, he tried to find employment. 
Of course the Tooting business did not thrive under such 
management, and ho Avas soon in serious difliculties ; such literary 
Avork as olfered in his oAvn special line supplied him Avith but 
scanty means. In the Introduction to his edition ot A\ hite’s 
‘ Selborne,’ dated from LoAver Tooting, 183G, ho alludes to his 
difiicnlties; but says, that his mind “cleaves to its fi\A'Ourito pursuit 
in dcliancc of many obsbiclcs, and eagerly avails itself of every 
occasion to contribute a mite to the stock of general information.” 
]>lyth contributed to both Loudon and CharlesAvorth’s series of the 
‘ IMagazine of Natural History’ from 1833 to the time of his going 
to India, and in 1838 he, in this magazine, proposed a ncAV armngo- 
ment of insessorial birds. He Avrote in the ‘Field Naturalist,’ 
and he Avas associated Avith ^ludie, Johnston, and M cstAVOod, in 
an illustrated edition of Cuvier, published in 1840, in Avhich he 
undertook the mammals, birds, and fishes, adding much original 
matter of his oAvn. He also read papers before the Zoological 
Society between 1837 and 1840, the most important of Avhich Avas a 
monograph of the genus Ovis, in Avhich he described fifteen species 
of Sheep, including the then ncAvly-discovercd O. poU from Pamir 
— this Avas read in 1840. 
Just at this time the Asiatic Society of Pengal had obtained 
from the Directors of the East India Company a grant for a paid 
curator of its museum, Avhich had groAvn into a collection 
unmanageable by the honorary office-bearers aa’Iio had hitherto 
looked after it. This appointment Avas oflered to and accepted by 
iJlyth (then in Aveak health, and advised to seek aAvarmer climate), 
and ho arrived in Calcutta and took charge of the museum in 
September, 1841. He held this post for tAventy-tAvo years, during 
Avhich time he Avas indefatigable, not only as a curator, but also as a 
collector, making cxcui'sions Avhenever opportunity offered. M hilst 
engaged in one of these e.xcursions in 185G, he purchased, in con- 
junction Avith a German speculator, tlic bulk of the lioyal 
Menagerie at LuckuoAv, for a mere trifle. Eighteen Tigers, the finest 
