WCP4751

Published letter (WCP4751.5111)

[1]1 [p. 211]

Mr. Samuel Stevens2 has just received a letter from Mr. A. R. Wallace, dated "Ternate, December 7th," in which he writes as follows:— "I returned to Ternate3 a few days after the last mail had left here, having had a most hazardous voyage from Ceram4 and Waigiou.5 My collections are immense, but very poor, when it is considered that they are the result of nine months’ collecting by two persons in East and North Ceram, Mysol,6 and Waigiou. Ceram is a wretched country; and the Papuan Islands, now that the cream is taken off by Aru7 and Dorey,8 are really not worth visiting, except for the Birds of Paradise.

"My beetles, I am sorry to say, are most miserable — smaller and more obscure species than at Dorey, and only a few of the good ones found there, and none in any quantity.

"In birds there is absolutely nothing good but the Paradisea rubra,9 which is the only species that inhabits Waigiou, and is peculiar to that island.

[2] [p. 212] "I have been so busy with my mass of specimens (all wanting sorting and cleaning), and with my numerous letters and books (a whole year), that my mind has been too much unsettled to write. Next mail I shall write to all my entomological and ornithological friends who have been kind enough to send me communications.

"I do not like the figure of Semioptera wallacii10 copied in 'The Ibis'11 from Gould’s:12 the neck-shields are not shown to advantage; and the white plumes should be raised much higher or laid down lower — they are neither one thing nor the other.

"C. Allen13 starts in a week or two for N[ew]. Guinea — to the true locality for the rarer Birds of Paradise, and I trust he may be successful. The last voyage, with all its dangers and disappointments, has nearly sickened me, and I think in one year I shall return.

"I seem to have all your letters but one (April 16, 1860)."14

1
This letter was communicated to the journal Ibis by Samuel Stevens, likely in early 1861, and published as: Wallace, A. R. 1861. Ibis, 3(10): 211-212.
2
Stevens, Samuel (1817-1899). British entomologist and dealer in natural history specimens; agent of ARW.
3
An island in Indonesia, part of the Moluccas, or Maluku Islands.
4
Now Seram, an island in Indonesia, part of the Moluccas, or Maluku Islands.
5
Waigeo, or Waigiu, is an island in the West Papua province of eastern Indonesia.
6
Now Misool, an island in the West Papua province of eastern, Indonesia.
7
A group of clustered islands in Indonesia, within the Moluccas, or Maluku Islands.
8
Dore Bay is in West Papua, Indonesia, on the western end of the island of New Guinea, with the port town of Manokwari.
9
Paradisaea rubra, the Red bird-of-paradise.
10
Wallace’s standard-wing, a species of bird-of-paradise collected by ARW (technically, by his assistant Ali) from Batchian (now Bacan) Island in the Moluccas and named in his honor by George Robert Gray of the British Museum.
11
The plate of this illustration is in: Sclater, P. L. 1860. Notes on Wallace’s Standard-wing, Semioptera wallacii. Ibis, 2: 26-28, pl. II.
12
Gould, John (1804-1881). British ornithologist and publisher. Gould’s coloured lithograph of Wallace’s standard-wing was published in: Gould, J. 1851-1869. Supplement to the Birds of Australia. London.
13
Allen, Charles Martin (1839-1892). ARW's assistant in the Malay Archipelago, the Moluccas and New Guinea.
14
[cross-reference to this letter?]

Editorial information

Status: Edited (but not proofed) transcription [Published letter (WCP4751.5111)]

For more information about the transcriptions and metadata, see https://wallaceletters.myspecies.info/content/epsilon

Revision history

Transcribed by Smith, Charles Hyde [2012-09-26] Transcription checked by Catchpole, Caroline [2013-01-15] Transcription checked by Barton, Michael [2018-11-01]

Please cite as “WCP4751,” in Beccaloni, G. W. (ed.), Ɛpsilon: The Alfred Russel Wallace Collection accessed on 28 April 2024, https://epsilon.ac.uk/view/wallace/letters/WCP4751