Edward Blyth

Edward Blyth was an English zoologist who lived from 1810 to 1873. He spent much of his career in India, working in Calcutta, which is now called Kolkata. There, he served as a curator of zoology at the Royal Asiatic Society of Bengal.

Blyth was very good at organizing and describing animal specimens. In 1849, he published a book called Catalogue of the Birds of the Asiatic Society, where he listed and described many bird specimens. He did not collect these birds himself but received them from other scientists, such as A.O. Hume, Samuel Tickell, and Robert Swinhoe, who sent him their findings.

After Blyth passed away, another of his works, Natural History of the Cranes, was published in 1881. His careful work helped scientists understand more about birds and other animals in Asia.

Early life and work

Edward Blyth was born on 23 December 1810, in London. After his father passed away, he went to school in Wimbledon. He liked reading and spending time in the woods. He studied chemistry for a while but decided to work as a pharmacist in Tooting. Later, he tried his luck as an author and editor.

In 1841, Blyth was offered a job as a curator at the museum of the Asiatic Society of Bengal in Calcutta. He was paid very little and needed money to travel there. In India, he focused mostly on studying birds, even though he had many other duties. He worked hard to build a large collection for the museum and shared his findings in the Society’s Journal. Over time, he became known for his important work on birds in India.

On natural selection

Further information: Natural selection § Historical development

Edward Blyth wrote three articles about how animals change, talking about how humans change animals through care and how nature keeps animals close to their original form. He never used the words "natural selection" in his writing. These articles came out in a magazine between 1835 and 1837.

In 1855, Charles Darwin wrote to Blyth asking for information about changes in animals that people care for. Blyth shared his ideas and helped Darwin learn about a paper by Alfred Russel Wallace. Blyth thought Wallace's ideas were good. Darwin respected Blyth a lot and talked about him in his book On the Origin of Species. Some people later thought Blyth had influenced Darwin, but we now know Darwin had already thought of these ideas before meeting Blyth. Blyth believed that animals stay the same and only extreme changes are removed, while Darwin thought animals could slowly change over time.

Return from India

Edward Blyth returned to London on 9 March 1863 because he wasn't feeling well. He needed to borrow money from a friend named John Henry Gurney and continued to work with animals. Later, he helped another scientist, Thomas C. Jerdon, write a book about birds in India. Blyth was part of important science groups and was nominated by Alfred Newton. He passed away from heart disease on 27 December 1873 and is buried in a family grave in Highgate Cemetery.

Other works

Edward Blyth loved learning about birds. Before moving to India, he did tests to see if birds could tell when a strange egg, like from a cuckoo, was placed in their nest. He found that chaffinches would remove foreign eggs from their nests.

Blyth also helped edit a big book called Animal Kingdom, focusing on mammals, birds, and reptiles. After he passed away, a book called Catalogue of the mammals and birds of Burma was published. He also worked on studying reptiles and amphibians, describing many new species during his career.

Eponymous taxa

Several birds and reptiles have names that honor Edward Blyth. Birds with his name include Blyth's hornbill, Blyth's leaf warbler, Blyth's hawk-eagle, Blyth's olive bulbul, Blyth's parakeet, Blyth's frogmouth, Blyth's reed warbler, Blyth's rosefinch, Blyth's shrike-babbler, Blyth's tragopan, Blyth's pipit, and Blyth's kingfisher. Reptiles that carry his name are Blythia reticulata, Eumeces blythianus, and Rhinophis blythii.