300 STUDIES IN INSECT LIFE, ETC. 

 his death Ray undertook to revise and complete 

 his " Ornithology/' and therein paid great atten- 

 tion to the internal anatomy and to the habits 

 and to the eggs of most of the birds he described. 

 All the innumerable fables which had passed 

 from book to book in the old bestiaries disap- 

 peared, for Ray ever showed a healthy scepticism 

 with regard to the marvellous. He, further, 

 edited Willughby's " History of Fishes," but per- 

 petuated the mistake of his predecessors in retain- 

 ing whales amongst that group. In a rather 

 rationalistic mood he argues that the fish which 

 swallowed Jonah must have been a shark. Per- 

 haps the weakest of his three great histories 

 the History of Insects was due to the fact that 

 Ray edited it in his old age. 



Ray was always a fine field naturalist, and 

 his catalogues of Cambridgeshire plants long 

 remained a classic. We may perhaps sum up 

 the contributions of this great naturalist in the 

 words of Professor Miall: " During his long and 

 strenuous life he introduced many lasting 

 improvements fuller descriptions, better defini- 

 tions, better associations, better sequences. He 

 strove to rest his distinctions upon knowledge 

 of structure, which he personally investigated at 



