42 HISTORY OF BRITISH ZOOPHYTES. 



to collect all the different kinds of sea-plants found on our 

 shores. He complied with the request, and being aided 

 in his search by Mr. Shelvocke, secretary of the General 

 Post Office, and by some friends in Ireland, he prepared the 

 landscapes and had the honour of presenting them to her 

 Royal Highness, by whom they were graciously received ; 

 and we may add, that these very pictures, which were pre- 

 pared for the amusement of the young princesses, have long 

 survived the royal damsels, and are still to be seen carefully 

 preserved in the British Museum in London. 



The great variety of plants that Mr. Ellis received at 

 this time led him to set about arranging them according to 

 their several classes, and genera, and species, taking as his 

 guide Ray's ' Synopsis of British Plants/ That he might 

 do this more accurately, he employed the microscope ; and, 

 by the aid of this instrument, he discovered that some of 

 them were so different in their nature, that he was more in- 

 clined to rank them in the animal than in the vegetable 

 kingdom. Having arranged them according to his mind, 

 he presented them to the Royal Society, along with a dis- 

 sertation explaining his views with respect to their nature ; 

 but as he still had doubts as to some of them, he went, in 

 August, 1752, to the Isle of Sheppey, near the coast of 



