CH. xvn. ZOOLOGY. 141 



fifth toes, as the cat, dog, and mole ; and lastly, those which 

 have the fifth finger, or toe, quite separate, as the monkeys. 

 After this he divided them more fully, by their teeth, and 

 thus made a very fair classification of quadrupeds. 



The book upon Birds, which comes next in order, had 

 already been published by Ray in 1677, four years after 

 Willughby's death. In it birds were divided first into land- 

 birds and water-birds, and were then classified by the shape 

 of their beak and claws, and according as they fed upon 

 flesh like the vulture, or upon fruit and seeds like the parrot. 

 The water-birds were also divided into those which were long- 

 legged, as the flamingo, or short-legged, as the duck, and 

 according as the web between their toes was more or less 

 complete. * 



The * History of Fishes ' is given as the joint work of Ray 

 and Willughby ; the groups into which they divided them 

 are nearly the same as those now used. 



The * History of Insects ' was Ray's work, and was pub- 

 lished by friends after his death, in the same way as he had 

 published Willughby's. He divided insects into first, those 

 which undergo metamorphosis (that is, turn from the cater- 

 pillar into the moth), as the silkworm, and all moths and but- 

 terflies ; and second, those which do not change their form ; 

 and then he subdivided them according to the number of 

 their feet, the shape of their wings, and many other characters. 



But Ray's greatest work was upon Plants, which he 

 classified much more perfectly than Caesalpinus had done. 

 He divided them first into imperfect plants, or those whose 

 flowers are invisible, as mosses or mushrooms ; and perfect 

 plants, or those having visible flowers. The perfect plants 

 he divided into two classes first, the dicotyledons, or those 

 whose seeds open out into two seed-leaves, like the wall- 

 flower or the bean in which last you can see the two cotyle 



