SYKES, COLONEL WILLIAM IL, BOrnbay army, was Statistical Reporter for the Dekhati front 1821 to 1834 ; from 1840, one of the Directors of the East India Company ; a dis tinguished zoologist, meteorologist, geologiat, antiquary, and statist. Ile has written so much on each of ao many subjects, that his papers are classed below.
Meteorology.—Mean Temperature of India at Various Elevations, Rep. 13rit. Assn., 1834, iii. p. 567. On the Measurement of Heights by the Thermometer, ibid., 1835, p: 25 ; Lond. Geo. Trans.; Bom. Geo. Trans., 1839 ; Jackson's What to Observe, etc. On the Remarkable Difference betwixt the Fall. of Rain at Mahabaleswar and that at Bombay and at Poona, ibid., 1839, vi. p. 16. On the Meteorology of the Province of Coorg,.in the Western Ghats, ibid., 1842, xi. p. 22. On the Fall of Rain on the Coast of Travan core and Table-land of littri Multi, ibid., 1846. On the Fall of Rain on the Table-land of littri Muni, Travancore, 1846, ibid., 1848, p. 39. On a Remarkable Storro at Bombay, 6th April 1817, ibid. On Indian Hail-storms, ibid., 18.50, p. 43. On the Atmospheric Tides in the Deklian, Phil. Trans., 1840. On the Meteorological Observations in India, I'hil. Trans., 1850.
ZooloTiy.—Geographical Range of certain Birds common to various parts of the World, chiefly to India, Rep. 13rit. Ass., 1835, iii. p. 69. Fishes of the Dekhan, Trans. Loud. Zool. Soc., 1838. Catalogue of the Mammalia of the Dekhan, Zool. Tmns., 1831, republished, As. Trans., 1832, i. Birds of the Dekhan, Zool. Trans., 18:32, repub lished, Bl. As. Trans., 1834, iii. Quails and Ilernipoda of India, Lond. 4to.
Statisties.—Wages of Labourers in the Dekhan, Rep. Brit. Ass., 1835, iii. p. 118. Special Report on the Statistics of the Dekhan, ita Extent and Physical Circumstances; Geology, Ghats, Escarp ments, Climate, Botany, Zoology, Antiquities, Population, Education, Irrigation, Mountains, etc. (See Dekhan), Rep. Brit. Ass., 1837, vi. On the Morality of Calcutta, ibid., 1844, xiii. p. 88. On the Statistics of Ilospitals for the Insane in Bengal, ibid., p. 89. Statistics of Civil Justice in India for Four Years, from 1841 to 1844, ibid., 1846, p. 94. Of Charitable Dispensaries in, ibid., p. 96. Statistics of the Agra Government or NW. Provinces, ibid., 1847. Statistics of Civil Justice in Bengal to which Government is a Party, ibid. 1848, p. 116. Contributions to the Statistics of' Sugar produced in India, ibid., 1849, p. 108. Statistics of Civil and Criminal Justice under the Bengal Government for the Years 1844, 1847, 1849, Rep. I3rit. Ass., 1836, v. Statistics
of the Educational Institutions of India, 1858, 8vo. On the Fruits of the Dekhan—Twenty-one Kinds of Ordinary Wild Fruits, Importance of Communication for the Introduction of Plants of India (Rudiments of Indian Exhibition of 1853, Bombay Economic Museum, Sir A. Johnstone on, in Lond. As. Trans.; Dr. Buist on, Bom. Geo. Trans., 1848). On the Dutch Pos sessions of the East Indies, Rep. Brit. Ass., 1848, p. 112. Prices of Cerealia and other Edibles in England and India compared, Rep. Brit. Ass., 1847. Mortality in the Jails of the Twenty-four Parganas, Calcutta, Rep. Stat. Survey of India, 1841. Catalogue of Chinese Buddhist 1Vorks, Lond. As. Trans. On the Land Tenuree of tho Dekhan, ibid., 1831, ii. pp. 205-233 ; 1836, iii. mi. 350.376. On the State of India before the Muhanunrulan Invaaion, founded on the Travels of Fa Hian, ibid., 1836, vi. p. 248. On the Proprietary Right of the Soil vested in the Subject, not the Sovereign, in India, ibid., 1836, vi. p. 246. Same subject as Land Tenures of the Dekhan. Mortality and Chief Disca.ses of Troops under the Madras Government in 1851 compared with that in 1842, 1846, and 1849, Jl. of Loud. Stat. Soc., 1851. On Expenditure of the Government of India on Public Works ibid., 1850.
Geology of 'a Portion of the Dekhan, Loin]. Geol. Trans. iv. Second Series, 4to. On a Fossil Fish from the Table-land of the Dekhan, Lond. Geol. Trans., 1851, vii.
In 1832, a Catalogue of Birds, collected by Colonel Sykes in the Bombay Presidency, was published in the Proceedings of the Zoological Society of London. In this were enumerated 226 species, of which above 40 were deacribed for the first time. This catalogue was undoubtedly the most valuable enumeration of the birds of India published, and contains descriptions, with many highly interesting observations on the habits, food, and structure of many of the species. Of those enumerated by Colonel Sykes, there were about 9 or 10 which Dr. Jerdon, when writing in 1839, had not observed, most of which are pro bably peculiar to the more northeni portion of the range of ghats and neighbouring table-land. Ile wrote also Notes on the Religious, Moral, and Political State of Ancient India, London 1841 ; Statistics of the Educational Institutions of the East India Company ; on the Increase of We.alth and Expenditure in the various Classes of Society in the United Kingdom, 1,ondon 1837.—Bitist's Cat. ; E et T.'