CORRESPONDENCE OF RAY. 51 



thing further of me concerning my ' History of Spiders/ 

 The whole is yet imperfect ; but, however, I have tran- 

 scribed the tables, that he may for the future join with 

 me, and assist me in the prosecution of my design, as to 

 this part of the ' History of Insects : ' for, for the other 

 parts, I must neglect them in a manner ; but this will 

 still be my particular ambition, to look after with care. 

 He may freely command my papers at any time ; and, 

 when you have corrected the style (for there must be 

 faults in it), if you think fit, make him a present of it in 

 my name ; or otherwise, make use of it as to your tables 

 now in hand. 



I thajik you for the pains you took to note my plants, 

 and to name them ; it is a great satisfaction to me : I 

 have, in acknowledgment, sent you the things mentioned 

 in this letter, viz. of our amber and jet. One thing I 

 must add, that you may not think that this is casually 

 cast upon the shore, for it is the constant effect, more or 

 less, of winter storms ; and the poor drive a kind of a 

 small trade with it, the apothecaries and others buying it 

 of them at about 3d. an ounce. Also I send a leg of the 

 Buzzard, a preserved medler : to these I add, by way of 

 present, a couple of pastiles, or small cakes of the juices 

 dried in the sun, of our English store of plants ; they are 

 unmixed and purely natural, as they were taken from the 

 plants by incision. The one was in the drawing or issuing 

 out of the plant a purple juice, the other of a gold-colour. 

 The one burns freely with a flame, and is of no offensive 

 or ungrateful smell; the other burns not at all with a 

 flame, at least continues it not, and is intoxicating : they 

 are both bitter. Guess me the plants that afford them, 

 et eris mihi, ut revera es, magnus Apollo. I have a score 

 of different juices besides by me in cakes, but these are 

 (if I mistake not, at least to the best of my knowledge), 

 nowhere made mention of by any author, although the 

 plants be common in England. They are the juices of 

 no fruit, but of the body of the plant. 

 Dec. 22, 1669. 



