isrs.] . 4,5 



1852, the "Exotic Butterflies," commenced in 1851 and concluded (at the termination 

 of the third volume) in the present year, and his separate work on the Lyccenidm, 

 left unfinished at the time of his death, and which will (we believe) be edited and 

 concluded by his faithful friend and co-worker, Professor Westwood. These works 

 are remarkable for the surpassing accuracy and fidelity exhibited in the forms and 

 colours of the wings, drawn by himself on the stone and coloured from his own 

 patterns. In these points he was (and probably will long remain) without an equal. 

 On the other hand, the absence of appreciation of structural characters other than 

 those furnished by the wings is painfully apparent, the bodies and legs being delineated 

 in a mechanical manner (or the latter altogether omitted) ; nor do we any where find 

 notes of biological interest in his writings on Buttei'flies. 



These omissions, and the want of power of grasping (or intelligently combating) 

 the modern philosophical theoi-ies of Natural Science, will prevent his name acquiring 

 the high position amongst those of scientific Entomologists in which we should have 

 liked to have seen it. This is greatly to be deplored. After fortune had favoured 

 him, he spared neither time nor money in amassing materials : there never has been 

 an Entomologist to whom science is so directly indebted in this way ; there probably 

 never has been one who could have advanced its higher branches more directly had 

 he aimed at something further than the mere possession and description of specimens 

 of the perfect insects. 



Some thirty years ago the Oatlands Park Estate (once the residence of the Duke 

 and Duchess of York) was cut up into a variety of lots for building purposes. Mr. 

 Hewitson purchased the first of these ^about ten acres) and built himself a house, 

 laying out the grounds with exquisite taste and planting a variety of choice conifers 

 and flowering shrubs, so that to the natural beauties of the suddenly-broken ground, 

 with ornamental water at the foot of the slope, and two large and aged cedar trees 

 near the mansion, as the trees and shrubs grew up, ever more and more charms were 

 added. Hence a visit to Oatlands was remembered by the many who enjoyed the 

 privilege as one of the experiences of a life-time. It is possible that few more gen- 

 uinely single-minded and charitable men have (or ever will be) connected with 

 Entomology. Truly we could better have spared a better man, from an entomological 

 point of view. 



Mr. Hewitson had long been a valetudinarian, but up to the last his most inti- 

 mate friends refused to believe his end was so near. So far as we can learn, the dis- 

 position of his collections and property is strikingly in keeping with his character. 

 The Butterflies are bequeathed to the British Museum on the condition that they 

 remain separate for twenty-one years, accompanied by a wish that at the expiration 

 of that time the same condition be extended for a further similar term ; the birds' 

 eggs are left to his friend and publisher, Mr. Van Voorst, who long ago assisted him 

 (when assistance was valuable) in continuing his " British Oology." He was a 

 widower for many years before his decease, leaving no issue, and no relatives ; his 

 property — after the payment of large sums to several charities, liberal bequests to his 

 executors, and a multitude of smaller amounts to his servants, and to those who had 

 dii'ectly, or indirectly, assisted him in his entomological pursuits — is left to an old 

 friend and schoolfellow ; with the exception of his library, bequeathed to his native 

 town (Newcastle), and certain pictures which will enrich the national collection. 



