LISTER 131 



doubt by arrangement with Ray that Lister undertook 

 to study spiders and shells, in furtherance of the great 

 project of a general natural history of plants and 

 animals. Lister married the daughter of a Yorkshire 

 landowner, and lived for some years at Carlton, near 

 Skipton. During this time he seems to have been 

 fond of rambling over the Craven hills, observing the 

 fossils of the limestone, the mollusks, spiders, insects 

 and plants. Local naturalists still recall his discovery 

 of Cyclostoma elegans at Thorp Arch on the Wharfe, 

 and at Burwell in Lincolnshire, of Sphserium rivicola 

 at Doncaster, and of the fossil Aviculopecten of the 

 lower coal-measures. In 1670 he began to practise 

 as a physician at York, and in the same year was 

 elected into the Royal Society. He continued to busy 

 himself with natural history, paying attention also to 

 antiquities, tracing the Roman wall of York and writing 

 a description of the multangular tower, besides collecting 

 altars, coins and other objects of curiosity. In 1683 he 

 removed to London, and there became a fashionable 

 physician ; he made one of the " medicorum chorus," 

 which surrounded Charles II during his last illness ; 

 in 1698 he was attached to Portland's embassy to 

 the French court, and at a later time served queen 

 Anne as second physician. Professional work withdrew 

 him from all close study of natural history after his 

 removal to London. 



In his younger days Lister was an accurate observer, 

 by no means disinclined to speculation. He stimulated 

 faunistic work in England, and threw out from time 

 to time a sagacious hint or a profitable criticism. A 

 few detached notes will sufficiently indicate the nature 

 of his contributions to biology. 



