This book brings together articles, drawings, and paintings from valuable old books, journals, and gazetteers in the collection of the Bombay Natural History Society. The historical writings of wildlife and bird enthusiasts of the past paint of vivid picture of India’s rich flora and fauna, in urgent need of protection today. Painting, mostly of birds, and lithographs and sketches of animals and trees, scenery and monuments, many of which are recognized as classics of their type, are mainly the work of eminent European wildlife artists of the 19th and early 20th centuries. In a substantial section at the end of the book, gleanings from the miscellaneous notes section of early issues of the Journal of the BNHS provide lively snippets of information on species as wide-ranging as red ants, mongoose, monitor lizard, python, cobra, cheetah, and darter. With the descriptive text and stunning visuals, this volume, like its predecessor Salim Ali’s India, will be a prized possession for anyone with an interest in India and its natural history.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR Ashok S. Kothari
Dr. Ashok S. Kothari has been practising medicine in Mumbai for the last three decades, simultaneously pursuing his keen interest in nature and travelling extensively in India and abroad. Under his leadership the National Society of the Friends of the Trees and the Rotary Club of Bombay seacoast have organized large-scale and successful tree-planting drives, and he is known as "Dr. Green" among tree lovers. He served as a member of the Executive Committee and Chairman of the Library Sub-committee of the BNHS for many years, led several nature study tours, organized five exhibition of rare books on India and Indian wildlife (many from his own vast collection), and co-edited Salim Ali's India for the Society. He is now working on a Gujarati translation of The Book of Indian Birds.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR Boman F. Chhapgar
Dr. Boman F. Chhapgar, former Curator of the Taraporevala Aquarium, Mumbai is an internationally renowned marine biologist. A life Fellow of the International Oceanographic Foundation, Miami, Florida, his portrait hangs in the Gallery of Crustacea in teh Smithsonian Institution's National Museum of Natural History, Washington D.C., USA-one of only two Indian carcinologists thus honoured. He has authored eleven popular books on aquatic life. Incidentally, he has donated blood 109 times.
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