GRAY, JOHN EDWARD, naturalist, b. at Walsall in the year 1800, was educated for the medical profession. In 1821 he assisted his father (who was author of Supplement to the Pharmacopeia, and other works) in the preparation of his Natural Arrangement of British Plants, in which, for the first time in the English language, the new method was adopted. In 1824 he entered the British museum as assistant in the natural history department, where he found scope for the employment of his extensive knowledge and accuracy of observation, and in 1840 was appointed keeper of the zoological collections. This post he retained till his death, to the manifest advantage of zoological science, for the British museum collections are the most complete in the world: a monu ment of his persevering activity throughout an active life. His success was partly due to his quickness in seizing the peculiar characteristic of animal forms, which rendered him a good classifier. The royal Bavarian academy of sciences at Munich recognized his services to science by conferring on him the title of PII.D. Dr. Gray wrote much on subjects connected with his department. The mere titles of his books and papers make a long list, numbering more than 500. His zoological and natural history cata logues are not mere lists, but are enriched with synonyms and ample notes, whereby study of particular subjects is greatly promoted. Dr. Gray did not confine his activity to his special department: he assisted in the formation of some of the most prosperous scientific societies of London: and he was a vice-president of the zoological society, and took an active part in its management. He, moreover, claimed to hay.e anticipated sir Rowland Hill in his for a low uniform rate of postage. Re, at various times,
gave valuable evidence before parliamentary committees, on the management 'of the British museum and other subjects; and he served on the juries of the great exhibitions of 1851 and 1862. Dr. Gray died at his residence in the British museum, in 1875.
Dr. Gray's principal works are: illustrations of Indian Zoology, 2. vols. folio; The Knowsley Menagerie, 2 vols. folio; Spicilegia Zoologica—on Mammalia, Birds, Reptiles, Fishes, AleItasca, Shells; a Synopsis of the Contents of the British Museum; besides cata logues of the specimens in the zoological department, which have greatly facilitated the study of those collections. He also wrote many scientific papers, which have been published in the Philosophical Transactions, the Transactions of the Lin:mean Society, the Encyclopaedia •letropolitana, Annals of Natural History, and the Reports of the British Association; the whole comprising a mass of facts and principles highly valuable to naturalists.
In 1826 Dr, Gray married a lady who rendered him important aid 'in his studies, and is known as authoress of Figures of Illolluscous Animals, for the Use (f Students, a. work in five volumes. In 1832 he was elected a fellow of the royal society, and after wards served on the council. He was a member of some of the principal societies and academies in England and on the continent.—His late brother, GEOltGE R. GRAY, who was an officer in the zoological department of the British museum from 1831 till his death in 1872, was the author of many memoirs on zoology, but is best known as author of The Genera of Birds.