1S92. ; 83 



©bituarg. 



Henry Walter Bates, F.R.S. — It is with profound regret we announce the 

 death of Mr. Bates on February 16th, after a short iUness, in liis 68th year. He 

 was born at Leicester on February 8th, 1825, where his father was engaged in one 

 of the staple industries of the town, and where he was principally educated with a 

 view to commercial life : and his school education was supplemented by attending 

 evening classes, where he probably acquired his knowledge of classics and the rudi- 

 ments of modern languages. Early in life he evinced a taste for Natural History, 

 Botany at first, and subsequently Entomology, and several notes by him on British 

 Coleoptera were published in the " Zoologist " for 1843 and 184)i. Business was 

 distasteful to him, and the desire for foreign travel grew with his years. At one 

 time we believe this desire nearly culminated in emigration to Australia with his 

 life-long friend, Mr. Stephen Barton, of Bristol ; but the project fell through. In 

 1844 or 1845 he made the acquaintance of Mr. A. R. Wallace, who was then engaged 

 as a tutor at Leicester, and this acquaintanceship proved fraught with events con- 

 cerning his future career. In April, 1848, the two friends set sail for Para, at the 

 mouth of the Amazons, on a memorable Natural History expedition, proposing to 

 pay their expenses from the sales of the specimens collected, Mr. Samuel Stevens 

 being appointed their agent in London. They soon had to contend with sickness ; 

 Bates was attacked by yellow fever, but happily recovered ; Wallace lost his brother 

 from the same fell disease. The two explorers separated after a short time ; Bates 

 occupied himself principally with the main stream of the Amazons, Wallace diverted 

 to the Rio Negro, and returned in 1852, whereas Bates remained until 1859, having 

 spent 11 years on the Amazons, ascending to a point over the Peruvian frontier, 

 distant 1800 miles from the Atlantic, and frequently encountering great dangers and 

 hardships ; steam was then unknown on the Amazons, and distances that may 

 now be covered in a few weeks then took several months. 



We do not further intend to follow the explorer in his travels. A most vivid 

 description of them and of the Natural History of the region was published by 

 him in 1863, under the title, " The Naturalist on the River Amazons," originally 

 in 2 vols, (and translated into several European languages), and subsequently 

 in a somewhat modified form in one vol., of which there have been numerous 

 reprints, and which, even to his death, was a steady source of income to its author, 

 so continuous has been its popularity. The collections made were enormous, and the 

 biological, ethnological and geographical information obtained was immense. Popular 

 and remunerative as was this work, its author was wont to say at the time that he 

 would rather spend another 11 years on the Amazons than write another book. 



Being without any permanent occupation, it indeed seemed very probable at 

 this time that Bates would undertake another exploring expedition ; but an event 

 occurred which finally caused him to abandon any such idea. He married a 

 Leicestershire lady, and from that time he remained at home. His work attracted 

 the attention of Sir Roderick Murchison, who then had great influence at the 

 Royal Geographical Society, and who became his warm friend and patron. A 

 vacancy occurring in 1864 in the Assistant Secretaryship of the Society, the post 

 was offered to Bates, who accepted it and retained it to the last, for he was on 

 duty up to a very short time before his death. 



