Gray, JOHN EDWARD,

Gray, JOHN EDWARD, English naturalist, born at Walsall in 1800, was educated for the medical profession. After assisting his father, author of Supplement to the Pharmacopœia, in the preparation of his Natural Arrangement of British Plants in 1821, he entered in 1824 the British Museum as assistant in the Natural History Department, and in 1840 was appointed keeper of the Zoological Collections, a post which he retained till 1874. A few months later, on 7th March 1875, he died in London. To him belongs the merit of having made the zoological collections of the British Museum the most complete in the world. Dr Gray wrote much on subjects connected with his department. The titles of his books and papers number more than 500. Of these the most important are his catalogues of the British Museum collections, which are not mere lists, but are enriched with synonyms and ample notes. Next to these come Illustrations of Indian Zoology (1830-35) and The Knowsley Menagerie and Aviary (1846-60). Dr Gray also assisted in the formation of some of the most prosperous scientific societies of London, and was a vice-president of the Zoological Society.—His wife, MARIA EMMA, wrote Figures of Molluscous Animals for the Use of Students (5 vols. 1842-57).—His brother, GEORGE ROBERT GRAY (1808-72), an officer in the Zoological Department of the British Museum from 1831 till his death, is known as author of The Genera of Birds (1849), and of works on the birds of Polynesia and New Guinea.