ceoiis tribe, had engaged but little atten- 
tion ^ and in thi^ volume, thefe claffes do 
not far exceed the number reeiftered in the 
Cambridge Catalogue. The v/hole number 
of plants in this lift, amount to about 1050 
only. This fmall number had been owing 
to the extreme caution of Mr. Ray, not to 
admit .any varieties to hold the place of 
fpecies ^ and to exclude all ethers on doubt- 
ful authority. Hov/, in his * Pbytologta,'' has 
upwards of 1200 ; and Merrett, in his 
^^P/j^.<^;v/' upwards of 1400 3 certain proofs 
that the authors had not fufficiently fludied 
the nicer diiiinfiions, which guided the 
judgment of Mr. Ray 5 and as a proof^ it 
may be obferved, that many of their plants 
are to this day undifcovered. Senfible as 
•Mr. Ray was of the errors of Merrett's 
Pinax^' he purpofely omitted quoting it, 
as he writes to Dr. Lister, that he might 
•avoid that cenfure of it, which could -^not 
properly have been withheld, had he given 
his im.partial opinion of that performance. 
In this year, he informs Br. Lister, 
that he had, what he thought, a moft libe- 
ral offer, of one hundred pounds a year, and 
all 
