3 Review(s)

There are three nineteenth century travellers to Brazil who in their search for an understanding of the origins of species were to change the course of history: Charles Darwin, Alfred Russel Wallace and Henry Walter Bates. Darwin needs little introduction; Wallace, sidelined for many years in the shadow of Darwin, has recently been re-evaluated and there is now a greater understanding of his role as co-discoverer with Darwin of the origins of species. Bates however remains relatively unknown. Nevertheless, a theory about mimetic resemblances (mimicry) attaches to Bates's name and the fact remains that had Bates not first defined his idea, Darwin and Wallace would probably have been denied access to a very specific process of thought. The importance of this theory of mimicry is that it led to a greater understanding of evolution. Therefore, this book sets out to bring Bates out from the shadows and place this extraordinary man in a more elevated scientific context. Wallace and Bates travelled together to the Amazon and while Wallace stayed for only four years before moving on to the Malay Archipelago, Bates remained there for more than eleven years. On returning to London, Bates began sorting his collections and publishing important entomological papers culminating in 1862 with Contributions to an Insect Fauna of the Amazon Valley which included an interesting geographical analysis of species distribution and announced his theory of protective resemblances or mimicry. In 1863, with encouragement from Darwin, he published his book The Naturalist on the River Amazons, which quickly reached classic status in the field of literary scientific travel writing. This book looks at the three periods of Bates's life. He is observed as the young boy searching for knowledge and as the untiring explorer and adventurer. We scrutinise him as a scientific theorist and as a peripatetic collector, jotting down with meticulous care the daily detail of his collecting. In later life, we see him wrestling with the problem of acceptance by the scientific elite of his day despite the fact that in the nineteenth century, most people were assigned predictable social roles and status and were expected to identify with the standard models that were associated with gender, social class, nationality or religion. And finally his later work as assistant secretary to the Royal Geographical Society, which he transformed into an institution which combinedexploration with academic research.