WCP3892

King St. Leicester

april 30 1862

My Dear Sir¹

I forewarned M^r Wallace that you might not expect us last Friday as you had not heard from us since the previous Monday; we had a delightful stroll in the gardens, so there was no great harm done. I hope we shall be more successful next time but I daresay you will meet M^r Wallace frequently.

Have I done right in setting the artist² to work on the two plates for the Linnean trans[actions].?³ I understand [2] from what you have said that the strict rule is for the author to deliver his paper with drawings complete. I could have delivered it with drawings incomplete; but this would have been extremely inconvenient, for the drawings have to be made from two collections & the way I have arranged will save many [one crossed out word illeg.] journeys & communications & ^much [one crossed out word illeg.] trouble. You were so kind as to say the Soc[iety]. w[oul]^d waive etiquette in this case. I am glad of it, the plates were an after thought suggested by friends & necessitate much alteration in the paper which was [3] written with the view to a very humble place in the "Proceedings["]⁴ by the side of Walker's⁵ & Smith's⁶ articles on insects. The artist will [one crossed out word illeg.] the plates ^insects on [one word missing] — (I do know whether he had yet communicated with the secretary⁷) & I will finish the paper when the drawings are complete. I will let you know what the artist intends to change & ask your opinion as to the proportion to be charged the Soc[iety]. for more engraving.

Yours sincerely | H. W. Bates⁸ [signature]