John, a celebrated naturalist, was the son of Roger Ray, a blacksmith, and was born at Black Notley in Essex in 1628. He received the rudiments of learning at the grammar school of Braintree; and in 1644 was admitted into Catharine Hall, Cambridge, whence he afterwards removed to Trinity College in that university. He took the degree of Master of Arts, and became at length a senior fellow of the college. He was chosen Greek lecturer at the age of twenty-three, and two years later mathematical tutor to his college. His intense application to his studies having injured his health, he was obliged at his leisure hours to exercise himself by riding or walking in the fields, which led him to the study of plants. He noted from Johnson, Parkinson, and the Phytologia Britannica, the places where curious plants grew; and in 1658 he rode from Cambridge to the city of Chester, whence he proceeded to North Wales, visiting many places, and amongst others the famous hill of Snowdon, and returning by Shrewsbury and Gloucester. In 1660 he published his Catalogus Plantarum circa Cantabrigiam nascentium, and the same Raymond, year he was ordained deacon and priest. In 1661 he accompanied Francis Willughby and others, in search of plants and other natural curiosities, to the north of England, and Scotland; and the next year he made a western tour from Chester, through Wales, to Cornwall, Devonshire, Dorsetshire, Hampshire, Wiltshire, and other counties. He afterwards travelled with Willughby and other gentlemen through Holland, Germany, Italy, France, and made several tours in England, and was admitted fellow of the Royal Society. In 1672 his friend Willughby died, in the thirty-seventh year of his age, at Middleton Hall, his seat in Warwickshire, to the great loss and grief of Ray himself, his friends, and all good men who knew him. As there existed the closest and most sincere friendship between Willughby and Ray from the time of their being fellow-students, Willughby not only confided in Ray in his lifetime, but also at his death; for he made him one of the executors of his will, and charged him with the education of his sons, Francis and Thomas, leaving him at the same time an annuity of £50 per annum. The elder being not quite four years of age, Ray, as a faithful trustee, undertook their instruction, and for their use compiled his *Nomenclator Classicus*, which was published the same year. Francis, the elder, dying before he became of age, the younger became Lord Middleton. Not many months after the death of Willughby, Ray lost another of his best friends, Bishop Wilkins, whom he visited in London on the 18th of November 1672. In June 1673 Ray married a daughter of Mr Oakley of Launton in Oxfordshire. Towards the end of this year came forth his *Observations made in Foreign Countries*, to which was added his *Catalogus Stirpium in extoris Regionibus observatarum*; and about the same time appeared his *Collection of Unusual or Local English Words*, which he had made in his travels through the counties of England. After having published many books upon subjects foreign to his profession, and among which was his *Collection of Proverbs*, published in 1672, he at length resolved to appear in the character of divine. He published his excellent demonstration of the being and attributes of God, entitled *The Wisdom of God manifested in the Works of the Creation*, 1697, 8vo. The rudiments of this work were read in some college lectures; and another collection of the same kind he enlarged, and published under the title of *Three Physio-theological Discourses concerning the Chaos, Deluge, and Dissolution of the World*, 1692, in 8vo. Ray died in 1705. He was modest, affable, and communicative, and distinguished by his probity, charity, sobriety, and piety. He wrote a great number of works, the principal of which, besides those already mentioned, are:

- *Catalogus Plantarum Anglicae; Dictionarium Trilingue secundum locos communia; Historia Plantarum Species bicoloris edita, alioque exemplis plantarum noviter inventarum et descriptarum complectens*, 3 vols.; - *Methodus Plantarum novae, cum Tabulae*, 8vo, and several other works on plants; - *Synopsis Methodica Animalium Quadrupedum et Serpentini generis*, 8vo; - *Synopsis Methodica Animalium Avium et Piscium Historia Insectorum, opus posthumum; Methodus Insectorum; Philosophical Letters*.

Memorials of John Ray have been written by Dr Derham, by Sir J. E. Smith for *Rees' Cyclopaedia*, and by Cuvier and Dupetit Thouars for the *Biog. Univ.* (See those biographies, collected and published for the "Ray Society" by Dr Edwin Lankester.)