100 



MEMORIALS OF RAY : 



of ' Stirpiiim Europaeamm extra Britaniiias crescentimii 

 Sylloge.' 



In the first catalogue he placed the contents m alpha- 

 betical order ; but afterwards, in the republication of the 

 particular lists, he arranged all those species which be- 

 longed to each district according to the authors who had 

 observed them. The consequence of this mode of arrange- 

 ment is a very interesting sketch of the botanical geogra- 

 phy of Europe. An exact synonomy, and numerous 

 highly interesting, though short, notes distinguish this 

 book from a mere catalogue. 



Its preface is very remarkable, for it is here that Ray 

 first fully recognized the sexuality of plants, and in reply 

 to an objection which had been already offered to this 

 doctrine, viz., that plants, undoubtedly female, produced 

 seeds, although they were kept entirely apart from the 

 male, he adduces the example of hens which lay eggs, 

 though separated from the cock. It may here be re- 

 marked, that the writings of Ray generally afford proof 

 that although he was quite alive to every reported disco- 

 very in his favorite sciences, yet that his natural prudence 

 induced him to make use of these asserted discoveries 

 with great deliberation ; an instance of which we find in 

 the first volume of his ' Historia Plantarum,' in 1686, 

 where, referring to the passage in which Grew really ex- 

 plains the sexuality of plants, in asserting that the stamen, 

 or as he calls it the " attire," was the male part, restricts 

 himself to saying that this appeared to him ''probable." 

 Erom this it would seem, that conviction of this im- 

 portant truth came upon him by degrees, and that he pro- 

 moted its extension v^th great caution. It is in this place 

 also that he enters into discussion with Rivinus, which 

 he commences by endeavouring to prove that that writer 

 was wrong in confounding " ligneous" with " herbaceous" 

 plants, seeing that the former alone were gemmiparm 

 and he afterwards reproaches him with separating plants 

 which have evident affinities, solely because they differ in 

 the number of petals ; such as the Tormentilla, which has 



