108 



MEMORIALS OF RAY. 



and it is believed that the manuscript of this translation 

 is still extant among the papers of the Royal Society. 



Although of weak constitution, Ray reached the age of 

 77, but in his later years suffered much, being afflicted 

 with painful ulcers, which deprived him of the use of his 

 legs. He died on the 17th January, 1705, at BlackNotley, 

 to which place he had retired for many years. He was 

 married in 1673, being then 45, and his wife 20. From 

 this marriage he had four daughters, three of whom sur- 

 vived him. His manners were mild and affable, and in 

 his life, as in his works, he was an example of piety and 

 charity. 



Bishop Compton erected a monument to his memory 

 in the churchyard of Black Notley, which has since been 

 removed into the church, and on which is a long and 

 elegant Latin epitaph, composed by William Coyte.* 



Some days before his death Ray presented all his col- 

 lections in natural history to Samuel Dale, an apothecary, 

 of Norwich, and who was himself known by some pro- 

 ductions in that science. 



It is to be regretted that Ray made no herbarium; 

 but those belonging to some of his contemporaries, and 

 now deposited in the British Museum, afford every facility 

 for the determining of the plants which he has described. 



Plumier dedicated to him his genus Janraja, the name 

 of which was afterwards transposed by Linnaeus into that 

 of Rajania, as being more conformable to his principles. 

 This genus was at first placed in the family of the Aspa- 

 raginecB, but, together with several others, has been de- 

 tached from that group, and it now forms one of the 

 Bmilacinece. 



Various species of fish also bear the name of Ray, as 

 having been discovered by him. A life of Ray, written 

 by Derham, and what remained of interest among his 

 papers, were printed by George Scott, in 1760; and a 

 more detailed account of his life, by Sir J. E. Smith, 

 President of the Linnsean Society, was inserted in Rees's 

 Cyclopaedia. 



* See page 84. 



