385 
XLII.— Tiie Naturalist oh the Amazons. 
The Naturalist on the Biver Amazons—a record oe Adven¬ 
tures—Habits of Animals—Sketches of Brazilian and 
Indian Life, and aspects of Nature under the Equator 
during eleven years of Travel. By Henry "Walter Bates, 
2 vols. 8vo. London, 1863. John Murray. 
In April, 1848, the author of the present volumes left England in 
company with Mr. A. B. Wallace—“ who has since acquired wide 
fame in connection with the Darwinian theory of Natural Selection,” 
on a joint expedition up the river Amazons, for the purpose of in¬ 
vestigating the Natural History of the vast wood-region traversed 
by that mighty river and its numerous tributaries. Mr. Wallace 
returned to England after four years stay, and was, we believe, 
unlucky enough to lose the greater part of his collections by the 
shipwreck of the vessel in which lie had transmitted them to London. 
Mr. Bates prolonged his residence in the Amazon-valley seven years 
after Mr. Wallace's departure, and did not revisit his native country 
again until 1859. Mr. Bates was also more fortunate than his com¬ 
panion hi bringing his gathered treasures home to England in safety. 
So great, indeed, was the mass of specimens accumulated by Mr. 
Bates during his eleven years’ researches, that upon the working out 
of his collection, which has been accomplished (or is now in course of 
being accomplished) by different scientific naturalists in this country, 
it has been ascertained that representatives of no less than 14,712 
species are amongst them, of which about 8000 were previously un¬ 
known to science. It may be remarked that by far the greater 
portion of these species, namely, about 14,000, belong to the class of 
Insects—to the study of which Mr. Bates principally devoted his 
attention—being, as is well known, himself recognized as no mean 
authority, as regards this class of organic beings. In his present 
volumes, however, Mr. Bates does not confine himself to his ento¬ 
mological discoveries, nor to any other branch of Natural History, 
but supplies a general outline of his adventures during his jour- 
neyings up and down the mighty river, and a variety of information 
concerning every object of interest whether physical or political 
that he met with by the way. 
Mr. Bates landed at Para in May, 1848. His first volume is 
entirely taken up with an account of the Lower Amazons—that is, 
the river from its sources up to the city of Manaos or Barra do Bio 
Negro, where it is joined by the large northern confluent of that 
name—and with a narrative of his residence at Para and his various 
excursions in the neighbourhood of that city. The large collection 
made by Mr. Bates of the animal productions of Para enable him to 
arrive at the following conclusions regarding the relations of the 
Eauna of the south side of the Amazonian Delta with those of other 
regions. 
