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November, 1879, and finished in January, 188G ; the 

 work on the Geodepliaga occupied from October, 1881, 

 to December, 1884 ; and that on the Lamelhcornia from 

 May, 1886, to January, 1890. During the whole of this 

 time we were receiving large consignments of specimens 

 from various parts of the country we were investigating, 

 and as the new arrivals came in Bates was duly sum- 

 moned to inspect the contents, and the keen interest he 

 showed, as a novelty here and a rarity there was spied in 

 each box as he scanned it, was always a pleasure to watch. 

 The specimens thus acquired were duly handed over to him 

 to work out ; a complete set was then put aside, to be returned 

 to us, aiid then Bates was at liberty to add what he pleased 

 to his own collection, and I am glad to know that by this 

 means his stores were considerably enlarged. The first set 

 of all these collections has now been placed in the British 

 Museum, to be eventually incorporated into the National 

 Collection. 



It has frequently been said with truth that Bates was a 

 many-sided man, and this is especially true as regards his 

 entomological work, for not only was he a good collector and 

 a good observer, but also his general reasoning and his 

 systematic work were of a very high order. This combination 

 of qualities seems to me to be of special value at the present 

 day, when it is the practice of some to extol certain branches 

 of our subject, and to decry others ; to exalt generalisations, 

 and to depreciate the drier and less attractive labours of the 

 systematist. Personally I recognise no such antagonism, for 

 the successful collector is ever bringing forward fresh stores of 

 material to the systematist, who again reduces that material 

 to order, and constantly enlarges the basis upon which the 

 geueraliser constructs his theories, which without systematic 

 work would stand upon far too narrow a foundation. Bates's 

 generalising power is largely shown in his well-known works, 

 and especially in that relating to the theory of mimicry. 

 This was the outcome of constant collecting and observation, 

 and subsequent systematic work ; indeed, to the latter labour 

 nearly the whole of the published work of the later portion of 

 his life is devoted. Those who were acquainted with him 



