Ix MEMOIR. 
‘IT must not forget to mention how pleased I was with your clear argument 
against local conditions, on the ground that a species exists in a constant 
form over a wide area and under very various conditions, variable even 
according to season. Also the illustration of twelve peas in a pod and Rivett 
wheat in Australia. 
““ No two localities, as you say, have precisely the same conditions, The 
motive of selection in each locality is different in consequence of these con- 
ditions; hence the existence of local varieties and representative species. 
‘‘It is parallel to the action of human selection ; the Leicester breed of 
sheep varies in this county according to the breeders who, after a few genera- 
tions, are obliged to look out for a pure blood ram to restore the perfection of 
the breed. 
‘« Yours sincerely, 
“HH. W. BATES. 
In April 1862 Bates applied for a post in the department of 
zoology in the British Museum, vacated by the retirement of Mr. 
Adam White. But the limits of age and the conditions of examina- 
tion were among the ostensible causes of his rejection. With that 
aptitude for putting round pegs into square holes which distin- 
guishes even representatives of culture, the Trustees nominated a 
young man who had written some creditable poetry ! 
‘‘ The collections,” Bates writes in a letter to Dr. Hooker, ‘‘ of which the 
young man will have charge (part of the insects) are at present in the utmost 
confusion; scarcely a genus in proper order and dulynamed. No entomolo- 
gist who wishes to name his species can do anything with it, and it is of very 
little aid to any one wishing to work out any scientific problem in which insects 
supply the facts. Yet this important and undigested mass of natural objects 
is entrusted to a young man having no taste or knowledge in this direction. 
The young man has yet to pass an examination He told a friend of mine 
that ‘six months ago he was up in the matter, but now he had forgotten and 
should be obliged to cram again.’ ”’ 
But the Trustees unwittingly rendered service to science by 
preferring Mr. O'Shaughnessy the litterateur, to Mr. Bates the 
naturalist. The classification of butterflies and the writing of the 
book went on unhindered. The weaving of the narrative out of 
the raw materials of journals was, however, a great labour, partly 
because of the difficulty of compressing an enormous mass of notes 
while maintaining the proportions of the subjects, but chiefly 
because of the severe standard by which Bates judged his own work. 
The following letter reports the progress made up to the autumn of 
1862 :— 
