Henry Walter Bates
Henry Walter Bates. The Naturalist on the River Amazon (London, 1863). Bates was an expert collector of New World insects and the author of this famous description of the natural habitats of Amazonia. From the Library of Congress.
Henry Walter Bates (1825—1892)
English naturalist and explorer. He and Alfred Russel Wallace left England in 1848 to explore and collect insects in the Amazon basin in what was to become incredibly valuable explorations and insights into natural history and evolution for the both of them. For the next eleven years Bates explored and collected around the Amazon and its tributaries, penetrating 1,400 miles upstream. By the time he left South America he had discovered over 8,000 species unknown to science. Bates was quick to embrace Darwin’s and Wallace’s theory of evolution by natural selection. Bates’ own theory of mimicry, which now bears his name (Batesian mimicry), provided evidence for evolution by natural selection. For several years after his Amazon travels, Bates worked mostly on butterflies. When he obtained his position with the Royal Geographical Society, he sold his Lepidoptera to Godman and Salvin. Bates assumed the post of Assistant Secretary of the Royal Geographical Society in 1864 and continued in this position for 28 years until his death. He died of bronchitis in 1892. His great work was ‘The Naturalist on the River Amazon’ (1863).
Source: Website Stanislav P. Abadjiev
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Henry Walter Bates (February 8, 1825 - February 16, 1892) was an English naturalist and explorer most famous for his expedition to the Amazon with Alfred Russel Wallace in 1848.
Wallace returned in 1852, but lost his collection in a shipwreck. When Bates arrived home seven years later (in 1859) he brought with him over 14,000 specimens (mostly insects) of which 8,000 were new to science.
Bates was born in Leicester, and at thirteen he became apprentice to a hosier. He studied in his spare time, and collected insects in Charnwood Forest. In 1843 he had a short paper on beetles published in the Zoologist Magazine. He became friends Wallace, who was also a keen entymologist, and after reading William H. Edwards' book on his Amazon expedition they decided to visit the region themselves.
From 1864 onwards he worked as assistant secretary of the Royal Geographical Society. He died of bronchitis.
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Referenced By
Alfred Russel Wallace | Alfred Wallace | Leicester | Leicester, England | Leicester UA | Wallace Line
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Henry Walter Bates
(1825—1892)
English naturalist and explorer. He and Alfred Russel Wallace left England in 1848 to explore and collect insects in the Amazon basin in what was to become incredibly valuable explorations and insights into natural history and evolution for the both of them. For the next eleven years Bates explored and collected around the Amazon and its tributaries, penetrating 1,400 miles upstream. By the time he left South America he had discovered over 8,000 species unknown to science. Bates was quick to embrace Darwin’s and Wallace’s theory of evolution by natural selection. Bates’ own theory of mimicry, which now bears his name (Batesian mimicry), provided evidence for evolution by natural selection. For several years after his Amazon travels, Bates worked mostly on butterflies. When he obtained his position with the Royal Geographical Society, he sold his Lepidoptera to Godman and Salvin. Bates assumed the post of Assistant Secretary of the Royal Geographical Society in 1864 and continued in this position for 28 years until his death. He died of bronchitis in 1892. His great work was ‘The Naturalist on the River Amazon’ (1863).
Source: http://www.abadjiev.net/s_a/pa/bates.htm
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