SELECTIONS 
FROM THE NOTES OF GRAY IN HIS COPY 
OF THE SYSTEMA NATUR.E 
The following selections have been made with the object of 
showing the general character and the great variety of Gray's 
notes, while the facsimiles illustrate the excellence of his draw- 
ings, and exhibit the aspect of the pages. But the mass of his 
work cannot be shown, and yet it is the mass which alone can 
convey a true impression of his diligence, of the range of his read- 
ing, of the constancy and accuracy of his observation, and of his 
skill as a descriptive naturalist. He does not appear to have in- 
tended to contribute to the advance of knowledge ; his work was 
undertaken for its own sake, and it remains as the chief monu- 
ment of the occupations of his later years.^ 
^ In printing these selections the text has been closely followed, except occasion- 
ally in its punctuation, and except also in a peculiarity of Grays writing, that 
of frequently beginning a sentence without a capital. 
(21 ) 
