EDITOR^S 



PREFACE. 



On the establishment of the Ray Society the Council 

 were desirous of commencing their publications, if 

 possible, with a volume commemorative of the great 

 naturalist, under the auspices of whose name the Associ- 

 ation had been formed. And although among the great 

 number of his works, it appeared, for various reasons, 

 that no one could be selected for this purpose ; still it was 

 felt that an account of the life, together with some critical 

 notice of the labours of Ray, would be higlily desirable. 

 The time, however, necessarily required for this object, pre- 

 cluded the possibihty of preparing such a work as the first 

 volume to be issued by the Society, and it was also found 

 that an original life of Ray, and a sufficient account of his 

 writings, would demand so much labour, and such pro- 



b 



