John Anderson (zoologist)

John Anderson

John Anderson FRSE FRS FRGS FZS FLS FRPSE FSA (4 October 1833 – 15 August 1900) was a Scottish anatomist and zoologist who worked in India.

He was born in Edinburgh and graduated in medicine from the University of Edinburgh in 1861. His thesis however was in zoology. He initially studied marine organisms based on dredging off the coast of Scotland and published notes in the Annals and Magazine of Natural History. He spent two years teaching at the Free Church College in Edinburgh and then left for India in 1864. During his time in Calcutta, he supported the creation of the zoological garden there. He become the first curator of the Indian Museum at Calcutta in 1865 and held the position until 1887, when he was succeeded by James Wood-Mason. During his time in India, he made several collecting expeditions to China and Burma. In 1867 he accompanied Colonel Edward Bosc Sladen as a naturalist on an expedition to Upper Burma and Yunnan. In 1875-6 he travelled to the same area under Colonel Horace Browne. Anderson made a third expedition for the Indian Museum in 1881–2 to the Mergui archipelago, Burma.

After his return to Britain he made extensive zoological collections in Egypt, forming the basis of his Zoology of Egypt. He died in Buxton, England.

Species named after him include Sacculina andersoni Giard, 1887, a parasitic barnacle.