butions to an Insect Fauna of the Amazon Valley. Lepidoptera : KeViconidæ' (Linnean Soc. Trans, vol. xxiii. 1862), described by Darwin as 'one of the most remarkable and admirable papers I ever read in my life.' It was this paper which first gave a due prominence before the scientific world to the phenomenon of mimicry, and with it a philosophic explanation which at once received Darwin's unconditional acceptance. 'I rejoice,' wrote the latter with characteristic sincerity, 'that I passed over the whole subject in the "Origin," for I should have made a precious mess of it ' (cf. Poulton, Colours of Aniynals, pp. 217 sq. ; Beddaed, Animal Coloration, passim ; Grant Allen on 'Mimicry,' Encyel. Brit. 9th ed.) Darwin strongly recommended Bates to publish a narrative of his travels, and with this object introduced him to the publisher, John Murray, who proved an invaluable friend. In January 1863 Murray issued Bates's 'Naturalist on the Amazons', which has been described as 'the best work of natural history travels published in England.' Apart from the personal charm of the narrative. Bates as a describer of the tropical forest is second only to Humboldt. His breadth of view saved him from the narrowness of specialism, and he was as far removed as possible from what Darwin called 'the mob of naturalists without souls.' The book was highly praised in the 'Revue des Deux Mondes' for August 1863, but the highest compliment it received was the remark of John Gould (whose greatest ambition had been to see the great river) to the author : 'Bates, I have read your book — I've seen the Amazons.' In April 1862, by the advice of numerous friends. Bates applied for a post in the zoological department at the British Museum, but the post was given to the poet Arthur William Edgar 0'Shaughnessy [q.v.], whose mind was a tabula rasa as far as zoological knowledge was concerned.
Early in 1864, upon the strong recommendation of Murray, Bates was chosen assistant secretary to the Royal Geographical Society. He would have preferred a scientific appointment, but he devoted himself assiduously to the work, and showed great administrative capacity, especially in connection with the removal of the society's premises in 1870 from Whitehall Place to 1 Savile Row. His services were referred to in the highest terms by Sir Roderick Murchison, and by his successors in the direction of the society's affairs. In addition to editing the 'Transactions,' he edited or supervised and prepared for the press a number of interesting volumes, among them Mrs. Somerville's 'Physical Geography' (1870), Belt's 'Naturalist in Nicaragua' (1873), Humbert's 'Japan and the Japanese' (translated by Mrs. Cashel Hoey, 1874), Warburton's 'Journey across the Western Interior of Australia' (1875), and Cassell's 'Illustrated Travels' (in 6 vols. 4to, 1875-6). He also wrote an introduction to the appendix volume of Whymper's 'Travels among the Great Andes.' He became F.L.S. in 1871, and was elected F.R.S. in 1881. He was elected president of the Entomological Society in 1869, and again in 1878. He was also a chevalier of the Brazilian order of the Rose. He published numerous papers in the Entomological Society's 'Journal,' in the 'Entomologist,' and in the 'Annals and Magazine of Natural History.' Large portions of his lepidoptera and other collections passed into the British Museum. Latterly, however, he appropriated his cabinets mainly to the coleoptera, and at his death his magnificent collection was sold intact to Mr. Oberthur of Rennes. The main results of his labours as a coleopterist are embodied in Godman and Salvin's 'Biologia Centrali-Americana.' Like Huxley and like Darwin, after returning from a long residence abroad. Bates was troubled by Carlyle's 'accursed hag,' dyspepsia. He died of bronchitis on 16 Feb. 1892, after having just completed twenty-eight years' valuable service as assistant secretary of the Royal Geographical Society. He married, in January 1861, Sarah Ann Mason of Leicester, who survived him with one daughter and three sons, the second of these an electrical engineer, the remaining two farmers in New Zealand. The Callithea Batesii and other entomological species commemorate his discoveries in the Amazons valley.
Bates was an assiduous student of the best literature. The selections from his letters (mainly to Darwin and Hooker), and a fragment of an incomplete diary, in the memoir by Mr. Edward Clodd, reveal an unmistakable literary gift. But he published only the one volume, 'The Naturalist on the Amazons,' from which, by Darwin's advice, he carefully removed all the 'fine' passages previous to publication. Stripped thus of superfluous ornament, the book takes a place between Darwin's 'Journal' and Wallace's 'Malay Archipelago' as one of the durable monuments of English travel literature. The narrative grips the reader at once and inspires him with an intense desire to visit the regions described, while the concluding meditation upon the exchange of a tropical for an English climate (with the countervail-
