RAWSON, EDWARD, 1615-93; b. England; settled in Newbury, Mass., in 1636; represented that town in the general court for several years, was clerk of that body., and secretary of the Massachusetts colony. He published The General Laws and Liberties Concerning the Inhabitants of the Massachusetts.
RAY, Rain, a Linncean genus of cartilaginous fishes, belonging to the order plagiostomi (q.v.) of Muller. and now divided into a number of genera, which form the family raihhe of many naturalists, and the suborder raise of some. The true rays have a flat body; the pectoral fins are large and fleshy, appearing as lateral expansions of the body, and along with it forming a circular disk or a rhomboid, to which is attached a rather long and slender tail. The pectoral fins are prolonged till they meet in front of the snout, and backward till they join the ventral tins. The eyes look upward, and the spout-holes or spiracles are also directed upward. The gill-openings, which are five in number, are on the under side of the body, where also the mouth is situated. The gills are close behind the month; and toward the tail are the stomach, intestines, and other viscera, in a circular cavity. The males are furnished with claspers. The eggs are large, resembling those of sharks, but more rectangular in form; thin horny cases, with projections at each of the four corners, having such a resemblance to a hand-harrow, that on some parts of the English coast they receive the name skate-barrows. They are also familiarly known as purses, and are very often to be seen cast up by the waves upon the beach. itays live mostly near the bottom of the sea, and where the bottom is sand or mud. When dis turbed, they glide in an undulating manner, and defend themselves against assailants by lashing with the tail, which is generally armed with spines, and in some species—called sting rays (q.v.), the funnily trygonithe of some naturalists—carries a single long and strong spine, notched on both sides. a formidable weapon, which is used somewhat as a saw. Bays are very voracious: they devour fishes, mollusks, and crustaceans. Many a the rays are popularly called SKATE. All of them are edible; some, however, are much better than others; and whilst, on some parts of the British coast they are regularly used for food, and brought to market, on other parts of the coast, they are rejected, and are thrown out to rot on the beach. Of British species, two of the most common are the thornbaek (q.v.) and the homelyn (q.v.). Another is the common skate, also called the blue skate or gray skate (min bate'), which is better than either the thornback or home lyn as an article of food. The long-nosed skate (I?. mucronata) and the white skate (I?. ofyrhynaus) are also common. The skates sometimes attain a very large size, more than S ft. in breada—Torpedo cephaloptcra (q.v.), etc., are genera of rays.
RAY, a co. in n.w. Missouri on the n. bank of the Missouri river, drained also by Crooked and Fishing rivers; traversed by the St. Louis. Kansas City and Northern rail road, and its St,. Joseph branch; 570 sq.m. ; pop. '80, 20,193-19,765 of American birth. Surface partly prairie and partly woodland; tobacco, corn, oats, wheat, sorghum, and wool are staples. Sheep, horses, and cattle are raised in great numbers. Coal and lime stone are found. Co. seat, Richmond.
RAY (or. as he himself occasionally spelled it, WRAY), JOHN, an eminent naturalist, was b. at Black-Notley, near Braintree, in Essex, Nov. 29, 1627. He went to Cambridge university,ivhere, after baying finished his course. he was elected a fellow, and appointed Greek lecturer, and afterward mathematical tutor in Trinity college; but after a time began to devote himself entirely to the study of natural history. Accompanied by a kindred spirit, Francis Willughby, a friend and former pupil of his own, Ray traveled over most of the United Kingdom, collecting and investigating botanical and zoological specimens, and in 1663 they started on a tour through the Low Countries, Germany, Italy, and France, with a similar object,Willughby taking the zoology under his charge, leav ing Ray the botany. In 1667 Ray was elected a fellow of the Royal society, to whose Transactions lie occasionally contributed valuable papers. In 1672, his friend Willrighby, with whom Ray had lived ever since lie had left the university, died, leaving him guard ian to his two sons (the younger of whom was afterward raised to the peerage as baron Middleton), an office which Ray discharged, and then, after several changes of resi dence, settled down in his native village, where he died, Jan. 17, 1705. As a botanist and zoologist, Ray ranks very high, being distinguished for his patience, acuteness, and sagacity; and in knowledge he seems to have been far in advance of his time, as the new method of classification of plants which lie proposed, though little adopted by his contemporaries and immediate successors, was eagerly laid hold of by Jussieu and others, under whose hands it became the foundation of what is now known as the "natural system" of classification. Ray's zoological works are considered by Cuvier as the foundation of modern zoology. In zoology, as in botany, Ray's works are remark able for the precision and clearness of the classification which he adopts, his divisions in the former subject being founded on the structure of the heart and the organs of res piration. The chief of his works on botany are Methodus Plantarum Kgra (1682, 2d ed., revised and amended by himself), in which lie details the principles of his new method of classification of plants; Catalogus Plentarum Anglia (1670), the basis of all the subse quent floras of this country; and a kcond (1677), third (1690), and fourth (1696) edition of which were published by himself; Ilistoria Plantarum (3 vols. 1686-1704), a compila tion. including descriptions of all the species which were then known. Ills zoological works include the Synopsis Alethodica-Animalium Quadrupedum et Ser pen Generis (1693), and three posthumous volumes on birds, fishes, and insects, published by Dr. Derhani. Ile was also the author of some theological works. His friend Willughby having collected the materials for an extensive work on the animal kingdom, left to Bay the task of arranging and clasSifying them, and the work accordingly appeared in 3 vols., the Ornitko/orfk in 1676. with an English translation by Ray in the following year, and the Piscinin in 1086 (2 vols.). In these volumes were described a large number of species of birds and fishes, which had escaped the observation of previous naturalists.