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Catalogue number: 88oWAL(4)/p33
Fish drawing of Ageneiosus militaris, made on the Rio Negro in South America, dated April 1852.
This is one of the 200 fish drawings that survived the burning and sinking of Wallace's cargo ship home, after four years collecting in the Amazon region of South America. This particular species is labelled as Ageneiosus militaris (Bloc), and is often caught for food along the river. The annotation 'Mandobé' indicates the region of the Upper Rio Negro from which Wallace caught his specimen.
Wallace made drawings of fish and collected specimens while travelling in a small canoe. It was a hard life but Wallace was driven by his love of nature and desire to record the minute details, which many people would ignore. This is evident in the fish drawings as they contain fine details. This one is drawn to scale, one-third of its actual size.
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View high resolution scans and transcripts of Alfred Russel Wallace's correspondence, including all surviving letters between him and Charles Darwin.
