RISE AND PROGRESS OF ZOOLOGY. 39 
we will, the best test of the merits of a writer, is 
the value which posterity attaches to his works; 
and, if we measure the researches of Ellis by this 
rule, we shall find, that, unlike systems claiming far 
higher pretensions, the two volumes of our illustrious 
countryman are now of as high an authority as they 
were on their first publication. His Natural History 
of Corallines *, now become scarce, was immediately 
translated into French, and we understand another 
edition has recently been published on the Continent. 
He was the author of no less than twenty-five papers 
in the Transactions of the Royal Society, and he was 
honoured by receiving the Copley medal for 1768 
For some time previous to his death he had been 
gathering materials for a grand work on the zoo- 
phytes, and a considerable number of most admir- 
able plates had already been executed, when this 
event took place, in 1776. These materials, however, 
were arranged by Dr. Solander, but only published + 
in 1786, under the auspices of Sir Joseph Banks; 
when both the author and the editor had gone to 
their last home. Ellis was also an accomplished 
p- 80. He not only did this, but stoutly denied, to the last, 
in his own works, the discovery of Ellis. — See Maton’s Life 
of Linn., p. 560. 
* Ellis. (1.) Essay towards a Natural History of the Coral- 
lines found on the Coast of Great Britain and Ireland. By 
John Ellis, Esq. London, 1755. 1 vol. 4to. (2.) Letter to 
Dr. Linnzus on the Animal Nature of Zoophytes, called Co- 
rallina. London, 1768. 4to. 
+ Natural History of many curious and uncommon Zoo- 
phytes, collected from various Parts of the Globe. By Ellis and 
Solander. London, 1786. 1 vol. 4to, 
D 4 
