82 



HARD IVIC RE'S SCIENCE-GOSSIP. 



has been carefully eliminating the Silurian and 

 Cambrian beds from confusion with the lower rocks, 

 while Dr. Callaway has been engaged in classifying 

 the pre-Cambrians, which he divides into two series, 

 the gneissic and the slaty. He recognises five sub- 

 divisions of the gneissic series : 



1. Halleflinta rocks (somewhat rarely seen). 



2. Quartz-schist and quartzite, of which five 

 examples are seen at Holyhead, and the South Stack 

 lighthouse. 



3. Grey gneiss, a beautiful porphyritic rock with 

 grey or pink felspar crystals, often of great size. 



4. Dark schist. Hornblende and micaceous gneiss 

 associated with chloritic and epidote schists. 



5. Granitoidite, of a compact granitic type, rarely 

 showing foliation, but otherwise like the Twt Hill 

 rock. 



The slaty series seems to consist of slaty, ashy, 

 brecciated rocks, sometimes like hornstones, with 

 felspathic and quartzose grits, and some quartzites. 



The age of these rocks is determined by the fact 

 that the Cambrian beds are made up of fragments 

 from the slaty, granitoid, and gneissic rocks ; and 

 besides this there is a striking resemblance between 

 them, and the Dimetian and Pebidian series of 

 St. David's, Caernarvon; and Shropshire. The 

 gneisses and schists are, however, possibly older than 

 these, but may be matched in the Malverns. 



(To be continued?) 



SKETCHES OF EMINENT NATURALISTS. 

 By Henry Lamb. 



No. I. — JOHN RAY. 



" I persuade myself that the bountiful and gracious Author 

 of man's being and faculties, and all things else, delights in the 

 beauty of His creation, and is well pleased with the industry of 

 man in adorning the earth . . . with shady woods and groves, 

 and walks set with rows of elegant trees, with pastures clothed 

 with flocks, and valleys covered over with corn." — Ray, Wisdom 

 of God in Creation. 



JOHN RAY, the "founder of true principles of 

 classification in the animal and vegetable king- 

 doms," was born at Black Notley, a pleasant undu- 

 lating village, near Braintree, in Essex, on the 29th of 

 November, 1627. His father, Roger Ray, was a 

 blacksmith in the village. 



Ray received a good classical education at the 

 grammar-school at Braintree, and on the 28th of 

 June, 1644, was sent to Cambridge. He was then in 

 his sixteenth year. In 1649 he was made a Fellow of 

 Trinity College ; afterwards, in 1651, Greek lecturer, 

 then mathematical lecturer. He was also junior dean, 

 college steward, &c. 



At Cambridge, Ray met with Francis Willughby, 

 who became one of his private pupils there. Ray 

 was always fond of natural history, but, being com- 

 pelled through ill-health to take out-door exercise, he 



collected and studied the different plants which he 

 met with in his walks round Cambridge, and from 

 that time his life was devoted to its scientific pursuits. 

 In 1667 he was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society, 

 and contributed to their Transactions many valuable 

 papers. 



His first publication was a " Catalogue of the 

 plants growing in the neighbourhood of Cambridge." 

 In this work he described 626 species. 



While residing at Cambridge he travelled over Great 

 Britain in pursuit of botanical and zoological informa- 

 tion, and was generally accompanied by Willughby. 

 After leaving the University, these two naturalists 

 travelled on the Continent. They sailed from Calais 

 in April 1663 ; went through the Low Countries 

 and Germany into Italy, returning by Switzerland 

 and France to England in the spring of 1666. In 

 this tour Ray attended to botany, and Willughby 

 chiefly to zoology. 



They discovered many new species of birds and 

 fishes in Germany and Italy during these travels. An 

 account of the tour was published by Ray in 1673. 



In 16S2 he published his " Methodus Plantarum 

 Nova." Ray first proposed the division of plants 

 into dicotyledons and monocotyledons. Although he 

 fell into many errors in his system of classification, 

 many of his divisions were adopted by Jussieu, 

 Brown, De Candolle, and others, in forming the 

 natural system. 



His " Catalogus Plantarum Angliae " first appeared 

 in 1670. This formed the basis of all subsequent 

 works on the flora of this country. Ray's largest 

 botanical work was a general " Historia Plantarum,"' 

 published in 1686. In this work he collected and 

 arranged 18,625 species, which included all the 

 plants which had then been described by botanists. 



He also wrote several works on quadrupeds, birds 

 and insects. 



Of his works on zoology, Cuvier says : "They may 

 be considered as the foundation of modern zoology." 

 Linnaeus, Buffon, and others borrowed largely from 

 the works of Ray. 



In 1679 Ray settled in his native place, where he 

 died on the 17th of January, 1704, at the age of 77, 

 and was buried in the parish churchyard, where 

 there is an obelisk erected to his memory. 



He married in 1673, and left three daughters. Ray 

 distinguished himself, not only by his great scientific 

 knowledge, but also by his "love of virtue " and his 

 gentleness of manner— qualities which shone brighter 

 and brighter to the latest period of his life. 



Great Grey Shrike (Lanius Excubitor) 

 near Croydon. — A female bird of this species was 

 caught by a bird-catcher at the bottom of Croham- 

 hurst last November, and was sold to Mr. Thorp, 

 our local naturalist. It was in very good condition 

 and plumage. — F. L. B. 



