28 The Humming Bird. 



settled at Ega, then a small village inhabited by some 

 hundred people. 



It is there and in the neighbourhoods, not far from that 

 place, that Bates did work for a number of years, and was 

 very successful. 



He collected many thousand species of insects, chiefly 

 Colcoptera and Lepidoptera, and most of them new to 

 science. Even now, after the numerous descriptions made 

 by him and others of the new species which he discovered 

 on the Amazons, I think the matter is not exhausted, and 

 many species remain still undescribed in his collection. Ega y 

 at that time, was a real Paradise for an enthusiastic 

 Naturialist like Bates. 



In 1859, he left Para on an American trading vessel and 

 returned to England, via New York. A few years after, 

 in 1863, he published a description of his travels under the 

 title, the Naturalist on the River Amazons. This book, 

 originally in two volumes, was a great success, and is still 

 selling well, in a somewhat modified form, in one volume. 

 It has been translated in several European languages. 



In this book he gives a vivid description of his travels on 

 the Amazons. It contains very valuable information on 

 the biology, ethnology, and geography of that country. 

 Soon after that he married a Leicestershire lady, a great en- 

 thusiast of travels, who hoped to accompany him in his 

 future expeditions, but in that she was deceived, for many 

 events occurred which did not permit to think of future 

 travels, and compelled him to remain in England. 



His work on the Amazons attracted the attention of Sir 

 Roderick Murchison, who had great influence at the Royal 

 Geographical Society, and who became his warm friend and 

 patron. A vacancy occurring in 1864 in the Assistant 

 Secretaryship of the Society, the post was offered to Bates, 

 who accepted and retained it to the last, for he was on duty 

 up to a very short time before his death. His services to 

 the Geographical Society will be fully acknowledged 

 elsewhere, but it is only justice to say that during his time 

 of office, Entomology has been greatly aided by him by 

 sound advices given freely to a host of Explorers, whom he 

 also materially assisted by equipping with apparatus for 

 collecting. In this way he increased considerably his col- 

 lections. 



During his stay on the Amazons he put together an 

 enormous mass of biological notes, in manuscript, copiously 

 illustrated by sketches, for he was no mean artist. These 

 notes still exist but (with the exception of those on the 

 Termitidac) unpublished. 



As a philosophical Naturalist he was a profound 



