MEMOIR OF RAY. 55 



This was followed by a Synopsis Methodica Avium 

 et Pisciuniy in which many species are inserted 

 which had become known to the author since the 

 publication of Willughby's works on the same 

 subjects. Owing to the negligence of the book- 

 seller to whom the copy had been sold, this volume 

 was not given to the world till after Ray's death, 

 when it appeared under the superintendence of Dr 

 Derham, who added several descriptions, together 

 with a series of figures. 



Our distinguished author was now considerably 

 upwards of sixty years of age, and his constitution, 

 naturally feeble, had been severely tried by his stu- 

 dious and sedentary mode of life. After complet- 

 ing so many useful works, he was pleased, we are 

 told by his biographer Dr Derham, by indulging the 

 thoughts of reposing from his labours. But notwith- 

 standing his bodily infirmities, his mind was still vi- 

 gorous ; and he did not hesitate to engage in another 

 literary undertaking, at the request of his friends. 

 This was to revise and correct an English edition 

 of Rauwolf's Travels in Asia, translated from the 

 High Dutch by Mr Staphorst, a native of Germany. 

 This work contained a good deal of information on 

 many subjects in natural history, and to make it 

 more perfect in this respect, Ray added a catalogue 

 of the plants of Greece, Syria, Egypt, and Crete. 

 It was published, with several rare tracts annexed, in 

 1693. 



Some time after his return from the Continent, 



