RAY AND WILLUGHBY 117 



Spigel the remark that no name is applied to so many 

 *' genera" as Trifolium.^ He apparently thought it no 

 more necessary to alter the generic names of plants 

 to suit his views on system than to alter the names 

 of towns or men so as to make them accord with some 

 logical method. Wood-sorrel had long before Ray's 

 time been distinguished from Trifolium as Oxys (by 

 Valerius Cordus), but Ray cared little about the name so 

 long as it was clear what plant was denoted. 



Fern-seed 

 Under Filix foemina authorities are quoted on both 

 sides of the question whether ferns bear seeds or not. 

 Ray supports the negative side, and argues that various 

 plants lack one of the organs which are considered 

 to be essential. Gelsemimum (Jasmine) has no fruit, 

 Fig no flower, Asparagus and Dodder no leaves, Mistletoe 

 no root. 



Cuckoo-spit (Frog-hopper) 

 Woodseare is given as a synonym ; where does it 

 come from? Ray understands the purpose and the 

 mode of formation of the froth, though he is wrong 

 in supposing that it comes from the mouth of the larva ; 

 he had wiped away the froth, and seen it form again. 

 The leaping of the full-grown insect had led some 

 naturalists to call it a grasshopper. (See Papaver 

 spumeum, p. 112.) 



Ichneumons 



Under Dipsacus and Rapum we find observations 



upon ichneumons, which were in the seventeenth century 



generally believed to proceed from eggs, not laid by 



insects, but directly generated in the tissues of the host. 



1 Cat. Cantab, p. 169. 



