MEMOIR OF RAY. 
55 
This was followed by a Synopsis Methodica Avium 
et Piscium , in which many species are inserted 
which had become known to the author since the 
publication of Willughby’s works on the same 
subjects. Owing to the negligence of the book- 
seller to whom the copy had been sold, this volume 
was not given to the world till after Ray’s death, 
when it appeared under the superintendence of Dr 
Derham, who added several descriptions, together 
with a series of figures. 
Our distinguished author was now considerably 
upwards of sixty years of age, and his constitution, 
naturally feeble, had been severely tried by his stu- 
dious and sedentary mode of life. After complet- 
ing so many useful works, he was pleased, we are 
told by his biographer Dr Derham, by indulging the 
thoughts of reposing from his labours. But notwith- 
standing his bodily infirmities, his mind was still vi- 
gorous ; and he did not hesitate to engage in another 
literary undertaking, at the request of his friends. 
This was to revise and correct an English edition 
of RauwolPs Travels in Asia, translated from the 
High Dutch by Mr Staphorst, a native of Germany. 
This work contained a good deal of information on 
many subjects in natural history, and to make it 
more perfect in this respect, Ray added a catalogue 
of the plants of Greece, Syria, Egypt, and Crete. 
It was published, with several rare tracts annexed, in 
1693. 
Some time after his return from the Continent, 
