HISTORY OF ESSEX BOTANY. 219
roote is great, thicke, and white, of little savour, with some strings appendant
thereto." [Angelica sylvestris L.]
Between the publication of Gerard's Herball and the
'emaculate' edition of Thomas Johnson (1633), the second
edition of Pena and Lobel's Adversaria was published by Lobel
in 1605. It contains the first British record for Polypogon
monspeliensis Desf. (p. 469), as follows:—
" Alopecurus altera maxima Anglica paludosa. . . . Vdis fossis
lacustribusq. Essexiensis comitatus legi, juxta Thamesis amoenissima fluenta,
cum tenderemus ad oedes Clarissimi & pijsissimi gen erosi viri
D. J. Coys hujus amoenissimi studii amantissimi & ut si quis alius Anglo-
britanorum peritissimi, herbidos campos perlustratur."
On p. 175 of vol. xi., after Johnson's record of Anagallis coerulea,
should have appeared the following :—
p. 630. "Nummularia flore purpurascente. Purple floured Money-woort
. . "on the bogges upon the heath," neare Burnt wood in Essex." [Anagallis
tenella L.]
After his record of Trifolium fragiferum on the same page, the
two following records should appear :—
p. 1482. "Ulmus folio glabra. Witch Elme, or smooth leauen Elme.
. . My worthy friend and excellent Herbalist of happy memorie, Mr.
"William Coys, of Stubbers, in the parish of Northokington, in Essex, told me
that the wood of this kinde was more desired for naves of Carts than the wood of
the first. I observed it growing very plentifully as I rode between Rumford and
the said Stubbers, in the yeere 1620, intermixed with the first kinde, but easily to
be discerned apart, and is in those parts usually called Witch-Elme." [Ulmus
surculosa var. glabra Mill.]
p. 1490. Lantana, sive Viburnum. The Wayfaring tree. . . ." I
enquired of a countreyman in Essex, if he knew any name of this : he answered,
it was called the Cotton tree, by reason of the softnesse of the leaves." [ Viburnum
lantana L.]
There is a great contrast between Merrett's work and that of
the greatest of Essex naturalists which follows it. The Club
has in the fourth volume of its Transactions and Proceedings
a fuller account of the life of Ray than is accessible elsewhere,1
so that the barest summary will suffice here. Ray was born at
Black Notley, probably on 29th November, 1627. From Braintree
Grammar School he entered Catherine Hall, Cambridge, in
1644 ; migrated to Trinity College in 1646 ; graduated and held
1 "The Life and Work of John Ray, and their relation to the Progress of Science."
By G S. Boulger. Trans. Essex Field Club, vol. iv., pp. 171—188. "The Domestic Life
of John Ray at Black Notley." By G. S. Boulger. Journ. of Proc. Essex Field Club,
vol. iv., pp. clix.—clxiv.