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Bates Henry Walter
(08.02.1825-16.02.1892)
Born in Leicester, England. From an early age was keen on wildlife; published his first scientific paper when he was 18 years old. For some time, Bates worked as a teacher in the Leicester school, and in 1848, thanks to the support of the British Museum, he went to America and for eleven years studied the Amazon with its large tributaries. Returning in 1859, Bates brought to London the richest collections, mostly zoological. In 1861, after processing the material, he read a famous report on mimicry in Linnaean society - a phenomenon that Bates discovered while watching large flocks of butterflies in tropical forests. He noted that quite often among the butterflies of one species (model) there are butterflies of another species (simulator), outwardly very similar to the model and very different from their closest relatives. Bates expressed the opinion that the model has an unpleasant taste for potential predators and that the simulator, while being palatable to the predator, provides protection due to its similarity to the model. Such an explanation fully corresponded to the theory of evolution by natural selection. This type of mimicry is called bates. In 1863, Bates saw the light of the popular narration about his journey to Brazil - The Naturalist on the River Amazon (Naturalist on the River Amazon), which was immediately recognized by readers. The following 1864 he became secretary of the London Zoological Society. He was engaged in administrative and publishing affairs, combining them with the study of insects. In 1881 he was elected a member of the Geographical Society.
He died in London. Urn with ashes buried in the cemetery of East Finchley. Mountains in the south of the Land Olaf V , the island of West Spitsbergen. Coordinates 78° 30'N 20° 00'E. Strait in the archipelago of Franz Josef Land between the islands of Maybel and Bruce. Discovered in 1880 by the expedition of B. Lee-Smith. |
