CURATORS AND SUPERINTENDENTS. 
107 
which endured over the long period of thirty-nine years in 
India, twenty-nine of which he spent as superintendent of the 
Botanic Garden. He survived his retirement in 1846 by 
eight years, d 3 dng in London on 28th April, 1854. 
JOHN M’CLELLAND, 
Curator of the Asiatic Society's Museum, 1839—1841. 
Very few facts are available of M’Clelland’s life, or even 
of his tenure of the post of Curator of the i\siatic Society’s 
Museum. He was apparently appointed to this post in 1839 
and retired from it some time before Blyth’s arrival in 1841. 
M’Clelland entered the Bengal Medical Service in 1830 
and became Inspector General thereof thirty years later. He 
retired in 1865 and died in England in 1883. 
His scientific work in India included his editing of the 
posthumous botanical works of Edward Griffiths, but his 
own researches were geological and zoological, and he is per¬ 
haps best known as the founder and editor of the short-lived, 
but scientifically successful Calcutta Journal of Natural His¬ 
tory (1841—1847), to wffiich he contributed numerous papers 
more particularly on Indian ichthyology. His account of 
the Cyprinidae or carps is particularly noteworthy. As a 
geologist he published several lengthy and valuable reports, 
having been at first secretary to a Committee for the investi¬ 
gation of the coal resources of India and then for two years, 
from December 1848, Geological Surveyor to Government. 
He was thus the immediate predecessor of Dr. Oldham, the 
first Director of the Geological Survey of India, who came 
out in 1851. 
EDWARD BLYTH, 
Curator of the Asiatic Society's Museum, 1841—1846. 
I. 
Edward Blyth was born in London on the 23rd Decem¬ 
ber, 1810, and educated at a private school at Wimbledon. 
He left school in 1825 and appears to have been intended for 
the Church, but finally studied chemistry and on coming of 
age invested what little he had in a druggist’s shop. His 
