( liv ) 



personally, as it was my good fortune to be for upwards of a 

 quarter of a century, well knew that the theories which in- 

 terested him so keenly in the earlier part of his career to him 

 never lost their charm, and never ceased to enliven the more 

 purely systematic work at which he laboured so industriously. 

 In the introductory portion of his Contributions to the Cole- 

 optera of the Biologia Centrali- Americana, which treats of the 

 geographical distribution of some of the orders, he constantly 

 alludes to our imperfect knowledge of the distribution of 

 species, and speaks with diffidence as to the general relation- 

 ships of the local forms he was treating of, showing that he was 

 keenly alive to the imperfections of our knowledge of even 

 the better-known families of Coleoptera, and the danger of 

 generalising on too narrow a basis. To my mind, Bates's 

 method of work is one to be followed by everyone aiming at 

 producing sound results, and is the same as that followed by 

 Darwin, and by the great botanist whose admirable letters to 

 Bates have recently been published in Mr. Clodd's memoir. 

 Eeferring to his address to this Society in 1879, it will there 

 be seen what his own views on the subject were. After 

 alluding to the preponderance of strictly systematic entomo- 

 logical literature of the day, which he attributed to the pro- 

 digious influx of material from various countries constantly 

 being opened up by the growing facilities of communication, 

 he deprecated this class of work being confined to the mere 

 description of species and genera, and urged the elaboration 

 of the general results of their observations, which would 

 throw light upon the genetic relations of forms. He goes on 

 to say that "all our knowledge of natural affinity in biology, 

 or the true blood-relationship of forms, has been due to the 

 labours of systematists and 'species-describers': not always 

 consciously, but through their endeavours, persisted in with 

 prodigious industry and keenness, to discover characters 

 which may enable them to classify satisfactorily the objects 

 of their study. It has fortunately happened that the in- 

 stinctive perception of truth (less clear and strong in some 

 than in others) has been such that no classification has 

 satisfied them, until it has become a natural one : thus with- 

 out knowing it, or intending it, their labours have gradually 



