Page:The naturalist on the River Amazons 1863 v1.djvu/14

 illustration of the Fauna of a region not likely to be explored again for the same purpose in our time. The limited means of a private traveller do not admit of his keeping, for a purely scientific end, a large collection. A considerable number, from many of the consignments which arrived in London from time to time, were chosen for the British Museum, so that the largest set next to my own is contained in our National Collection; but this probably comprises less than half the total number of species obtained. My very complete private collection of insects of nearly all the orders, which was especially valuable as containing the various connecting varieties, ticketed with their exact localities for the purpose of illustrating the formation of races, does not now exist in its entirety, a few large groups having passed into private hands in different parts of Europe.

With regard to the illustrations with which my book is adorned, it requires to be mentioned that the Natural History subjects have been drawn chiefly from specimens obtained by me, and the others by able artists partly from my own slight sketches. Messrs. Wolf and Zwecker have furnished most of the larger ones, which give an accurate idea of the objects and scenes they represent: for the smaller ones, many of which, for example the fishes, reptiles, and insects, are drawn with extreme care, I am indebted to Mr. E. W. Robinson.

Leicester, January, 1863.