Alfred Russel Wallace

:for the Cornish painter see Alfred Wallis

Exploration and study of the natural world

In 1848, Wallace, together with another naturalist, Henry Walter Bates (whom he had met in Leicester), left for Brazil to collect specimens in the Amazon Rainforest, with the express intention of gathering facts in order to solve the riddle of the origin of species. Unfortunately, a large part of his collection was destroyed when his ship caught fire and sank while returning to Britain in 1852.

Related Topics:
1848 - Henry Walter Bates - Leicester - Brazil - Amazon Rainforest - 1852

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From 1854 to 1862, he travelled through the Malay Archipelago or East Indies (now Malaysia and Indonesia), to collect specimens and study nature. His observations of the marked zoological differences across a narrow zone in the archipelago led to his hypothesis of the zoogeographical boundary now known as the Wallace line. One of his better known species descriptions during this trip is the gliding tree frog Rhacophorus nigropalmatus, Wallace's flying frog. His studies there were eventually published in 1869 as The Malay Archipelago.

Related Topics:
1854 - 1862 - Malay Archipelago - East Indies - Malaysia - Indonesia - Wallace line - Frog - 1869

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