THE LATE H. W. BATES. 185 



uncommon thing for him to study till midnight, and yet he was 

 up and out at daybreak for a country ramble. 



Like most collectors he commenced with the Lepidoptera, but 

 soon abandoned these for the Coleoptera, of which he speedily 

 made a fine collection of British species, and every Saturday 

 half-holiday found him scouring the neighbourhood of Charnwood 

 Forest in quest of specimens, especially that part of it which was 

 owned by the Earl of Stamford, who at that time was not a strict 

 game preserver, and whose keepers therefore were not disposed 

 to object to the occasional trespassing of a harmless naturalist. 

 After a ramble of this kind, it was Bates's practice to describe and 

 sketch the most notable insects captured by him, and this habit 

 no doubt contributed largely to give him that facility for writing 

 which was subsequently so useful to him when travelling abroad. 

 The results of his observations around Leicester and in Charn- 

 wood Forest were from time to time published in ' The Zoologist,' 

 in which journal his earliest communication appeared on p. 114 

 of vol. i. in 1843. This had reference to " Coleopterous Insects 

 frequenting damp places," and was succeeded by several short 

 notes, until his departure from England temporarily interrupted 

 communication. 



On the death of Mr. Gregory, to whom he was first appren- 

 ticed, he obtained a clerkship at Burton-on-Trent in the office of 

 Messrs. Allsopp. It is not surprising to learn that this post was 

 anything but congenial to his taste, and we can well imagine his 

 delight when the time came for him to leave England in company 

 with his friend Mr. Alfred Kussell Wallace on his memorable 

 expedition to the Amazons. 



Although zoology was the primary object of this expedition, 

 much geographical and ethnological information was acquired. 

 Messrs. Bates and Wallace arrived at Para on the 26th April, 1848, 

 and Bates resided there nearly a year and a half, making it his 

 head-quarters, from which he started on short excursions into 

 the interior, returning to refit, and despatch his collections to 

 England. At Para he remained until the 6th November, 1851, 

 when he started on his long voyage to the Tapajos and the 

 Upper Amazons which occupied a period of seven years and a 

 half. The narrative of his adventures as detailed in his delight- 

 ful work, * The Naturalist on the Amazons,' will of course be 

 familiar to all readers of this Journal. 



