Some Biogeographers, Evolutionists and Ecologists:
Chrono-Biographical Sketches

Lydekker, Richard (England 1849-1915)
mammalogy, paleontology

Richard Lydekker is not one of the great names in the history of zoogeographical inquiry, but he did explore the subject frequently, often as a function of his studies in vertebrate paleontology. As a young man he joined the Geological Survey of India, and there he was able to carry out extensive investigations that prepared him for his later position with the British Museum of Natural History. On returning from India he was charged by the Museum to prepare catalogues of their fossil vertebrate collections; this was accomplished in less than ten years. In his later years Lydekker took an increasing interest in public venues, contributing to changes in exhibit design at the Museum and preparing many writings of a more popular orientation.

--born in Harpenden, Hertfordshire, England, on 25 July 1849.
--1871: B.A., Trinity College, Cambridge
--1874: joins the Geological Survey of India; studies the vertebrate paleontology of northern India (especially Kashmir)
--1882: returns to England; becomes associated with the Departments of Geology and Zoology at the British Museum (Natural History)
--1885-1887: publishes his Catalogue of the Fossil Mammalia in the British Museum (Natural History), in five volumes
--1887-1913: prepares the mammal section of the Zoological Record
--1888-1890: publishes his Catalogue of the Fossil Reptilia and Amphibia in the British Museum (Natural History), in four volumes
--1891: publishes his Catalogue of the Fossil Birds in the British Museum (Natural History)
--1891: publishes his An Introduction to the Study of Mammals Living and Extinct, with W. H. Flower
--1893: visits Argentina to study fossil mammals there
--1894: made a fellow of the Royal Society
--1896: publishes his A Geographical History of Mammals
--1898-1900: serves on the council of the Zoological Society of London
--dies at Harpenden, Hertfordshire, England, on 16 April 1915.
--1916: posthumously publishes his Wild Life of the World, in three volumes

--History of Physical Anthropology: An Encyclopedia, Vol. 1 (1997).
--Geological Magazine, 6th Series, Vol. 2 (1915): 238-240.
--Proceedings of the Royal Society of London, Series B, Vol. 89(622) (1917): iii-vi.