Francis Willughby

Willughby, Francis (wĭlˈəbē) [key], 1635–72, English naturalist. He is known especially for his early systematic work on birds and fishes, in which he made some of the most important contributions before those of Linnaeus. He toured the Continent with John Ray, collecting material for his Ornithologia (1676, in Latin), translated into English by Ray as The Ornithology of Francis Willughby (1678). Ray also published Willughby's De Historia piscium (1686).

The Columbia Electronic Encyclopedia, 6th ed. Copyright © 2012, Columbia University Press. All rights reserved.

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