llsTRODUCTION CXIX 



and fifty species of Phanerogams and Cryptogams. This is a smaller 

 number than is given by How in the Phytologia, which contains twelve 

 hundred species, or by Merrett in the Pmax, where more than fourteen 

 hundred are enumerated ; but Kay has been much more careful in 

 selecting undoubted natives and in avoiding the introduction of mere 

 forms or varieties. Neither in this woi'k nor in his itineraries or 

 subsequent publications is there evidence to show that he ever visited 

 either Berkshire or Oxfordshire. One plant, however, from these 

 counties is found in the Catalogus, and it is the first record for Britain. 

 Some doubt exists as to which form of the Water Buttercup is 

 intended, but it is -prohsihlj RammcuJus Jluitans, Lam., as suggested in 

 my Flora of Oxfordshire. Ray calls it * Ranunculo sive Pohjanthemo aquafili 

 albo afft.ne millefolmm Ilaratnphijlhitn fluitans, J. B. In the river Ouse 

 [Isis] about Oxford plentifully.' One more plant, Polygonatimi multi- 

 florum, is definitely recorded for the first time as a native of Berkshire, 

 on page 248. In 1677 a second edition of the Catalogus appeared, and 

 in it Trigonella purpurascens. Lam., is recorded for the first time from 

 the neighbourhood of Oxfoi'd, where it does not appear to have been 

 found since that time. 



In 1673 he married a daughter of Mr. John Oakeley, of Launton, 

 on the borders of Oxfordshire. In 1682 aip-peaved his 3Iethodus Plantarum. 

 nova, an octavo volume of 166 pages, which contains a natui'al arrange- 

 ment of plants, based chiefly on the characters of the fruit. Ray 

 adheres to the ancient division of the vegetable kingdom into trees, 

 shrubs, and herbaceous plants. This work foreshadowed his magnum 

 opus, the Ilistoria Planiarum generalis. in two folio volumes, the first 

 containing 984 pages, the second 985, which appeared in 1686 and 1688. 

 In this work Ray has everywhere distinguished British from exotic 

 plants, and has given the place of growth and time of flowering. The 

 number of plants described is about 6,900. In the latter year he issued 

 his Fasciculus Stirpium Britannicarum. This octavo volume contains 

 nothing that is new to the Berkshire list, though the white-flowered 

 Helleborine is noted from the Chiltern Woods in Oxfordshire ; but it 

 added several plants to the British flora from Wales, and from Corn- 

 wall and other counties. In 1690 appeared the Synopsis Methodica 

 Stirpium Britannicarum, an octavo volume of 317 pages, dedicated to 

 Thomas, son of his old friend Francis Willughby. In the preface, 

 Ray acknowledges the assistance received from Mr. Bobart, Super- 

 intendent of the garden at Oxford, Dr. Edward Lhwyd, Dr. Robert Plot, 

 and Mr. William Sherard, at that time Fellow of St. John's College, 

 Oxford. The appendix contains a list of rare plants communicated by 

 Mr. Bobart, and some new plants from Mr. Sherard. The book was 

 such an advance on previous works of the kind that it became the 

 pocket companion of every Bi-itish botanist. 



