Ixiv MEMOIR. 
whom nature is not absolutely a sealed book. There is, in these remini- 
scences of a scientific voyage under the equator, a whole series of studies 
which relate, not to this species of monkey, or that sub-genus of lizards, but 
to the general aspect of the places that the naturalist has visited. Whether 
he describes his astonishment in presence of this tumultuous nature in the 
neighbourhood of Para, or whether, on entering the primeval forest, he 
depicts its silent and mysterious horror, he awakens impressions, he speaks 
to sympathies, which each of us feels in our inmost heart, and which, to 
those who have not lived under a tropical sky, seem like the recollection of a 
former existence.’’* 
To turn from the book to the man. Bates’s prospects at the 
time of its publication were not bright. The chances of getting 
employment suited to his tastes and abilities seemed remote. His 
impaired health and his dislike to the business were fatal obstacles. 
to his joining his brothers, who, moreover, could have made room 
for him only with difficulty. He tried lecturing, but, hearty as 
was his reception, especially on a Leicester platform, found it 
distasteful as well as unremunerative. At last, in the hope that 
he might get more in touch with men and things likely to bring 
permanent work in science, he removed to London, in April 1863. 
The following extract from a letter to Darwin, dated the 20th 
of that month, shows the state of affairs. 
‘* With regard to the other matter you mention, namely, my prospects; I 
must be open with you as I have been heretofore. My total income is £123 
—£100 of which is allowed to me by my brothers on account of my with- 
drawing from their small business (which was not large enough to support 
three of us), and leaving £1000 of my capital on loan; the other £23 is 
interest on shares. Now I hope to add by scientific or literary work sufficient 
to enable me to live modestly. I should consider myself well off if I could 
gain an additional £150. There is, perhaps, some slight chance of my 
getting in at British Museum, which of course would fix me for life. I can 
get plenty of entomological work from private persons, but it is of a tedious, 
mechanical nature, and would prevent me from undertaking original research. 
One of my reviewers ‘hopes that I have made my expedition answer ina 
pecuniary point of view.’ It certainly did not answer, for the total savings 
of my eleven years’ work did not exceed £800.”’ 
The discredit thrown by the authorities of the British Museum 
on Bates’s statement as to the number of new species discovered 
by him, which has been already referred to, is a main subject of 
the following letters :— 
* Revue des Deux Mondes, August 1863, p. 510. 
& 
