18 
that of Colonel Hyde, Master of the Calcutta Mint, who, as President of the Asiatic Society 
during a part of Stoliczka’s term as Secretary, was very closely connected with him. 
In October 1871 Stoliczka visited Cutch, in order to unravel on; the spot, by actual 
examination, some of the doubtful questions as to the distribution of the fossils and the detailed 
subdivision of the beds belonging to the several formations which occur there. Some of the 
results which he arrived at are stated in letters addressed to Mr. A. B. Wynne, to whom 
with thoughtful and characteristic consideration, he wrote, “ my admiration for your work 
“ is no less on that account, because you did not discover everything.” 
He himself never published any account of these results, but some of them are given 
in the Manual of the Geology of India, and in Dr. Waagen’s description of the Cutch fossils 
which is published in the Palceontologia Indica. 
In the year 1872, after his return from Cutch, in March, the productive powers of 
Stoliczka’s head and hand, gauged merely by the number of papers which he published, 
may be said to have reached their maximum, for we find in this year no fewer than 11 distinct 
communications, of which six were on the Reptilia and Batrachia of various parts of India, 
Burmah, and Malayana (54, 55, 56, 57, 58, 59), four consisted of anatomical and other notes 
upon the land mollusca of the Himalayas, Penang, and Burmah (60, 62, 63, 64), and one 
paper was devoted to a description of the mammals and birds inhabiting Cutch (61). 
In the introductory remarks to the last there is, as is usually the case in Stoliczka’s papers, a 
careful description of the physical, climatological, and vegetable conditions characterising the 
region in which the animals were found. * Such remarks are not easy to epitomise, and the 
following should be regarded rather as a sample than as a precis. He commences by saying 
that “ the study of local faunas must, for some time at least, continue one of the most 
“ important means of leading to a full understanding of Indian zoology. India combines 
“ such an enormous variety of physical conditions, namely, differences of level, climate, and 
“ vegetation, all of which have to be studied in connexion with the animal life, that one is 
“ almost lost in the chaos of information required, and is very apt to overlook conditions 
“ which may be essential for the explanation, not only of peculiarities as regards distinction 
“ of species, but also of those relating to geographical distribution.” 
“ The province of Cutch extends for about 150 miles along the tropic of Cancer, having a 
“ breadth of about 40 miles on either side of it, and the meridian of 70° E. longtitude passes 
“ through it a little eastward of the centre. The mainland stretches along the sea coast 
“ from the most eastern branch of the Indus to Kattiwar, from which it is separated by the 
“ Gulf of Cutch ; to the north and east it is entirely isolated from Sind and the eastern 
“ Rajputana States by the so-called Run, which was no doubt formerly an arm of the sea, 
“ but is now being much silted up. It has a varied breadth of from 40 to nearly 100 
“ miles.” * * * 
“ During the rainy season by far the greatest portion of the Run is inundated, and a good 
“ number of the larger water birds are said to be seen on it. The slightly elevated ground 
“ which locally forms strips in the Run proper supports a very scanty vegetation of rough 
“ grasses ( Cyperacece ) and of a few scattered bushes of tamarisk, &c. ; this part is called the 
“ Buni, and if the monsoons are not heavy, it affords rich pasture for cattle during that 
“ time, but in the dry season even the nomadic Sindees are often obliged to leave it for 
“ want of water.” 
Then follows a description of the more elevated portions of the area. Of the climate 
he gives some particulars. The south-west and west winds bring but little moisture to 
