The Natural History of the Mammalia of India and Ceylon
Overview
Published in 1884 by Thacker, Spink and Co. in Calcutta and London, The Natural History of the Mammalia of India and Ceylon represents Robert Armitage Sterndale’s comprehensive survey of the mammalian fauna across British India and adjacent territories. The work spans xxxii + 540 pages and documents 482 species across nine mammalian orders, substantially expanding the geographic scope of T. C. Jerdon’s earlier Mammals of India (1867), which had excluded Assam, Cachar, Tenasserim, Burma, Arakan, and Ceylon. Sterndale’s volume was designed as a popular manual combining systematic zoology with field observations, written in what he termed “an interesting conversational and often anecdotal style” rather than the formalism of compiled natural histories. The work emerged during a period of intensified zoological exploration in British India, when district collectors, military officers, and scientific societies were actively documenting the subcontinent’s fauna.
The work features 170 illustrations created by Sterndale himself, T. W. Wood, and other artists, including a frontispiece and numerous text engravings depicting species in natural poses and anatomical details. Sterndale organized the volume following Cuvier’s taxonomic system with modifications accepted by contemporary naturalists, preserving Jerdon’s numerical sequence to facilitate cross-reference. Each species entry includes scientific nomenclature, vernacular names in English and Indian languages, geographic distribution, physical descriptions, and behavioral observations drawn from field experience, correspondence with naturalists, examination of museum specimens, and published literature from scientific societies. The author acknowledged substantial debt to predecessors including Edward Blyth, Walter Elliott, and Brian Houghton Hodgson, whose earlier contributions established foundations for Indian mammalogy.
Sterndale explicitly positioned his work to fill a practical need among Anglo-Indian residents, combining scientific accuracy with readability for non-specialist audiences. The volume incorporates data from multiple sources: personal observations during jungle expeditions spanning several decades, reports from district officials and tea planters, specimens examined in museums and private collections, published proceedings of the Asiatic Society of Bengal and Bombay Natural History Society, and correspondence with field naturalists across the subcontinent. This synthetic approach reflects the collaborative nature of colonial natural history, where administrative networks facilitated specimen collection and data gathering across vast territories.
About the Author — R. A. Sterndale
Robert Armitage Sterndale CMG FZS (30 June 1839 – 3 October 1902) served in the Indian Civil Service from 1856, rising through positions including deputy collector, assistant settlement officer, and financial administrator in Nagpur, Calcutta, and Punjab, before appointment as Accountant General for Bombay (January 1884) and later Madras (1887). Born in England and arriving in India at age seventeen to work for the East India Company, Sterndale’s career spanned the final decades of Company rule and the consolidation of the British Raj. An accomplished naturalist and artist, Sterndale combined administrative duties with extensive field observation during jungle expeditions, producing pen sketches, watercolors, and oil paintings of natural history subjects. He volunteered with local regiments during the Indian Rebellion of 1857 and pursued big-game hunting throughout central India, particularly the Satpura Range in the Central Provinces.
Sterndale served as one of the founding editors of the Journal of the Bombay Natural History Society (established 1883), contributing to the institutional development of natural history research in colonial India. He published several influential works including Seonee, or Camp Life on the Satpura Range (1877), which famously inspired scenes in Rudyard Kipling’s The Jungle Books, and Denizens of the Jungle, a popular collection of animal stories. His artistic collaborations included illustrating two books by E. H. Aitken, a fellow naturalist-administrator. The combination of artistic skill, field experience, and scientific interest positioned Sterndale within a tradition of gentleman-naturalists who advanced colonial knowledge production while pursuing administrative careers.
After service in India, Sterndale became Governor General of St. Helena, where he died in 1902. His fellowship in both the Royal Geographical Society (F.R.G.S.) and Zoological Society (F.Z.S.) reflected recognition within British scientific institutions. Frank Finn, another Anglo-Indian naturalist, later republished an abridged edition of Sterndale’s mammal work, reflecting its continued utility for Anglo-Indian naturalists and sportsmen into the early 20th century. Sterndale’s legacy rests on his contributions to documenting Indian fauna during a critical period before systematic museum-based surveys displaced amateur field naturalists as primary authorities.
The Work
Publication Details:
The volume appeared in 1884 from Thacker, Spink and Co., a prominent Calcutta-based publisher specializing in Anglo-Indian literature, scientific works, and administrative manuals. The firm maintained offices in both Calcutta and London, facilitating distribution across the British Empire. The book’s physical format—a substantial octavo volume with cloth binding typical of late Victorian natural history works—balanced portability for field use with durability for library collections. Pricing positioned the work within reach of middle-class purchasers including junior administrators, military officers, and educated Indians engaged with colonial scientific institutions.
Scope and Methodology:
- The volume catalogs 482 numbered species following nine mammalian orders: Primates, Chiroptera (bats), Insectivora, Carnivora (subdivided into Plantigrada and Digitigrada), Rodentia, Ungulata (including Proboscidea, Perissodactyla, and Artiodactyla), Sirenia, and Cetacea
- Sterndale extended geographic coverage beyond peninsular India to encompass Assam, Burma, Ceylon, and Himalayan territories “likely to be reached by the sportsman from India,” providing the first comprehensive treatment of mammals across the entire British Indian Empire
- Field observations derived from “a long period of jungle life” supplement literature review, with entries incorporating personal hunting experiences, notes on behavior in captivity, anatomical measurements from collected specimens, and correspondence with district officials and naturalists
- Illustrations include both habitat scenes and detailed anatomical renderings, predominantly executed by Sterndale himself based on field sketches and study of living animals
Coverage:
Primates receive detailed treatment including langurs (Presbytis), macaques (Macacus), and lesser apes, with behavioral notes on troop structures and vocalizations. Sterndale describes the Hanuman langur’s temple-dwelling populations, territorial behaviors of bonnet and rhesus macaques, and hoolock gibbons of Assam’s hill forests. Carnivore sections document tigers, leopards, dholes, and smaller viverrids with hunting anecdotes and observations on prey preferences. The tiger entries include notes on man-eaters, territorial ranges, and hunting methods, while leopard accounts distinguish forest-dwelling and village-raiding individuals. Descriptions of Asiatic lions reference their restricted Kathiawar distribution. The dhole or wild dog receives attention for pack hunting tactics. Smaller carnivores include civets, mongooses, and Himalayan species like the red panda.
Extensive coverage of ungulates includes elephants, rhinoceroses, wild buffalo, several deer species (sambar, chital, barasingha), antelopes, and wild pigs, describing seasonal movements, rutting behavior, and habitat preferences across forest, grassland, and montane zones. Elephant entries detail musth periods, herd composition, and crop-raiding patterns. Both greater one-horned and Sumatran rhinoceros species receive separate treatment. Deer coverage encompasses sambur of hill forests, spotted deer of peninsular woodlands, swamp deer of terai grasslands, hog deer, and muntjacs. Antelope descriptions include nilgai, blackbuck, four-horned antelope, and Himalayan species like serow and goral. Wild buffalo accounts note their retreat to remote swamps and their distinction from feral domestic stock.
Rodent and bat sections catalog numerous species with limited field data, reflecting the taxonomic challenges and collection difficulties for small mammals. Chiroptera coverage ranges from large fruit bats (flying foxes) to insectivorous species, though systematic treatment remains incomplete compared to larger mammals. Rodent entries include squirrels (both tree-dwelling and ground species), rats, mice, porcupines, and specialized forms like mole-rats. Marine mammals receive cursory treatment reflecting reduced observational access, with brief accounts of dolphins, porpoises, and dugongs based primarily on stranded specimens and fishermen’s reports.
Each entry provides vernacular nomenclature across Hindi, Bengali, Telugu, Tamil, and other regional languages, documenting indigenous knowledge systems. Geographic distribution notes specify district-level occurrences based on shikar records, museum specimens, and correspondence with collectors. Sterndale frequently cites specific localities, elevation ranges, and habitat types, creating a detailed biogeographic record. Measurements include body dimensions, skull characteristics, and weight estimates. Behavioral observations note feeding habits, breeding seasons, vocalizations, and interactions with humans.
Taxonomic and Scientific Context
Sterndale worked during a transitional period in mammalian systematics when Cuvierian taxonomy was giving way to evolutionary classification following Darwin’s Origin of Species (1859). His retention of Jerdon’s numerical sequence and basic Cuvierian ordinal structure reflects conservative taxonomic practice aimed at user convenience rather than systematic innovation. The work predates widespread adoption of trinomial nomenclature for subspecies, though Sterndale occasionally notes geographic variation within species. Taxonomic authorities cited include Linnaeus, Cuvier, Geoffroy Saint-Hilaire, Blyth, Gray, and contemporary German and British systematists. Species boundaries often reflected limited specimen series and reliance on external morphology rather than cranial or dental characters emphasized in later taxonomic revisions.
The 482 species count substantially exceeds modern assessments of Indian mammalian diversity, reflecting taxonomic oversplitting common in 19th-century zoology, where minor color variations or geographic isolates frequently received species rank. Subsequent revision collapsed many of Sterndale’s species into subspecies or synonyms. However, the work documented several taxa later recognized as valid species or subspecies, and descriptions occasionally preserve information on populations subsequently extirpated. Sterndale’s field notes on variation, though unsystematic by modern standards, provide data for phylogeographic and morphometric research on historical populations.
Significance
Contemporary Reception: The work served as a practical field guide for British administrators, military officers, sportsmen, and amateur naturalists stationed across India, bridging technical zoology and accessible natural history writing. Its anecdotal style and hunting narratives appealed to Anglo-Indian readers while incorporating sufficient systematic detail for scientific reference. The expanded geographic coverage addressed a recognized gap in Jerdon’s earlier synthesis. Reviews in contemporary journals praised the volume’s accessibility and comprehensive scope while noting limitations in systematic rigor. The book entered library collections of colonial clubs, administrative offices, and natural history societies across India. Pricing made it accessible to middle-class Anglo-Indian purchasers rather than restricting circulation to specialists.
Later Assessment: W. T. Blanford’s Fauna of British India: Mammalia (1888-1891) superseded Sterndale’s volume as the authoritative taxonomic reference within four to seven years of publication, followed by R. I. Pocock’s revised editions (1939-1941). Sterndale’s work lacked the systematic rigor and specimen documentation of Blanford’s survey, which drew on extensive museum collections and more conservative taxonomic judgments. Blanford’s volumes provided detailed synonymies, cranial and dental descriptions, and critical evaluation of earlier identifications, establishing standards for the Fauna of British India series. However, Sterndale’s field observations and behavioral notes retained value for ecological and ethological research where Blanford’s museum-based accounts provided limited ecological context.
Modern assessments recognize the work as representative of amateur naturalist contributions to colonial science, where administrative careers enabled extensive field observation but limited access to comparative museum material constrained systematic analysis. The volume exemplifies tensions between popular natural history writing and specialist taxonomy, between sportsman’s knowledge and professional zoology. Historical scholarship on colonial science cites Sterndale’s work as illustrating the collaborative networks, information flows, and knowledge production practices of British India’s natural history community during the late 19th century.
Value for Researchers: The volume provides baseline distribution data for numerous species before major habitat transformation through railway construction, tea and coffee plantation expansion, and intensified forest exploitation in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Observations on species abundance, herd sizes, and habitat associations document pre-conservation era ecological conditions when tiger, rhinoceros, and elephant populations remained widespread across regions subsequently depleted. Records of Asiatic cheetah, pink-headed duck (if mentioned), and other extirpated species preserve final documentation. Vernacular nomenclature records linguistic usage among 1880s informants and shikar communities, valuable for ethnozoological and linguistic research. Illustrations preserve visual representations of species and hunting practices from the colonial sporting tradition, documenting cultural attitudes toward wildlife. Biogeographic data enables analysis of range contractions, habitat shifts, and population declines across the intervening 140 years.
Digital Access
This work is freely available through multiple digital repositories. The Internet Archive hosts the complete digitized text including all illustrations, searchable and downloadable in multiple formats (https://archive.org/details/naturalhistoryof00ster), digitized by the Smithsonian Libraries. Project Gutenberg provides the full text as a free ebook in various formats for modern reading devices (https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/19550). These digital editions enable contemporary researchers to access this historical mammalogical survey for biogeographic analysis, taxonomic history, and understanding 19th-century natural history practices in colonial India.
Note: This description was generated with assistance from Claude (Anthropic), leveraging historical research and scholarly analysis to provide an accurate overview of this significant work in Indian natural history literature.