Scope and Contents The first of seven field notebooks kept by William Bateson during the first part of his trip to the ‘Steppe’, including time spent in St. Petersburg, Moscow, Orenburg and Karabutak, en route to the Aral Sea. The entries are part travel diary and part field notes.They include descriptions of landscapes, plants and wildlife observed, places visited (including salt lakes), shells and fossils collected, people encountered (including the Kirghiz), local foods, customs and costumes, and...

Scope and Contents

Seven soft-bound pocket notebooks in Bateson's hand that he used for documenting his tour of 'the Steppe'. Some have original numbers on the covers which are given in the following descriptions. Entries are mostly in pencil, with occasional use of ink. The content is often exceptionally detailed, with general observations, accounts of incidents, and notes on flora and fauna (sometimes with sketches). A large proportion of the entries are dated.

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Note; by Charles Robert Darwin

(Note)

Scope and Contents

Note; by Charles Robert Darwin

(Note)

Scope and Contents

Note; by Charles Robert Darwin

(Note)

Scope and Contents Bateson, on behalf of both the Royal Society and the University of Cambridge, undertook a tour of part of western central Asia to study various biological questions arising from the gradual desiccation of 'the Steppe'. He left London on 4 May 1886 for St Petersburg, Russia, returning to Cambridge in the Autumn of 1887. The Aral Sea and the surrounding area he studied particularly closely. After Bateson's death, his widow Beatrice published the letters that he sent to his family during the...