Editing Ray Lankester

{{Short description|British zoologist}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=June 2014}}
{{Infobox scientist
| name              = Sir E. Ray Lankester
| image             = PSM V73 D096 Edwin Ray Lankester.jpg
| image_size        = 210px
| caption           = Sir E. Ray Lankester in 1908
| birth_date        = {{birth date|1847|5|15|df=y}}
| birth_place       = London, England
| death_date        = {{death date and age|1929|8|13|1847|5|15|df=y}}
| death_place       = London, England
| field             = [[Zoology]]
| work_institutions = [[University College London]]<br />[[Oxford University]]<br />[[British Museum (Natural History)]]
| alma_mater        = [[Downing College, Cambridge]]<br />[[Christ Church, Oxford]]
| known_for         = Evolution, [[Rationalism]]
| author_abbrev_bot = Lank.
| author_abbrev_zoo =
| prizes            = {{no wrap|[[Knight Bachelor]] {{small|(1906)}}<br />[[Darwin-Wallace Medal]] {{small|(Silver, 1908)}}<br />[[Copley Medal]] {{small|(1913)}}<br />[[Linnean Medal]] {{small|(1920)}}}}
| footnotes         = 
| signature         =  
}}
'''Sir Edwin Ray Lankester''' {{post-nominals|GBR|KCB|FRS}} (15 May 1847 – 13 August 1929) was a British [[zoologist]].<ref name="NIE">New International Encyclopaedia.</ref><ref>{{cite journal|author=Osborn, Henry Fairfield|author-link=Henry Fairfield Osborne|title=Obituary: Sir E. Ray Lankester, K.C.B., F.R.S.|journal=Nature|date=31 August 1929|pages=345–346|volume=124|issue=3122|doi=10.1038/124345a0|bibcode=1929Natur.124..345O|doi-access=free}}</ref>

An [[invertebrate]] zoologist and [[evolutionary biologist]], he held chairs at [[University College London]] and [[Oxford University]]. He was the third Director of the [[Natural History Museum, London]], and was awarded the [[Copley Medal]] of the [[Royal Society]].<ref name=ESG>{{cite journal|author=Goodrich, Edwin S.|author-link=Edwin Stephen Goodrich|title=The Scientific Work of Edwin Ray Lankester|journal=Quarterly Journal of Microscopical Science|year=1931|volume=s2-74|issue=295|pages=363–382|url=http://jcs.biologists.org/content/s2-74/295/363.full.pdf}}</ref>

== Life ==
Ray Lankester was born on 15 May 1847 on Burlington Street<ref>{{cite book|title=Biographical Index of Former Fellows of the Royal Society of Edinburgh 1783–2002|date=July 2006|publisher=The Royal Society of Edinburgh|isbn=0-902-198-84-X|url=https://www.royalsoced.org.uk/cms/files/fellows/biographical_index/fells_indexp1.pdf}}</ref> in [[London]], the son of [[Edwin Lankester]], a coroner<ref>{{cite journal|title=Lankester, Edwin Ray|journal=Who's Who|year=1907|volume= 59|page=1019|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=yEcuAAAAYAAJ&pg=PA1019|last1=Addison|first1=Henry Robert|last2=Oakes|first2=Charles Henry|last3=Lawson|first3=William John|last4=Sladen|first4=Douglas Brooke Wheelton}}</ref> and doctor-naturalist who helped eradicate [[cholera]] in London, and his wife, the botanist and author [[Phebe Lankester]]. Ray Lankester was probably named after the naturalist [[John Ray]]: his father had just edited the memorials of John Ray for the [[Ray Society]].

In 1855 Ray went to boarding school at [[Leatherhead]], and in 1858 to [[St Paul's School (London)|St Paul's School]]. His university education was at [[Downing College, Cambridge]], and [[Christ Church, Oxford]];<ref>{{acad|id=LNKR864ER|name=Lankester, Edwin Ray}}</ref> he transferred from Downing, after five terms, at his parents' behest because Christ Church had better teaching in the form of the newly appointed [[George Rolleston]].<ref>[[#Lester|Lester]], pp. 17–19.</ref>

Lankester achieved first-class honours in 1868. His education was rounded off by study visits to [[Vienna]], [[Leipzig]] and [[Jena]], and he did some work at the [[Stazione Zoologica]] at [[Naples]]. He took the examination to become a [[Fellow]] of [[Exeter College, Oxford]], and studied under [[Thomas Henry Huxley|Thomas H. Huxley]] before taking his [[Master of Arts (Oxbridge and Dublin)|MA]].

Lankester therefore had a far better education than most English biologists of the previous generation, such as [[T.H. Huxley|Huxley]], [[Alfred Russel Wallace|Wallace]] and [[Henry Walter Bates|Bates]]. Even so, it could be argued that the influence of his father Edwin and his friends were just as important. Huxley<ref>{{cite book|title=The Scientific Memoirs of Thomas Henry Huxley|year=1898|volume=I|location=London|publisher=Macmillan & Co|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=s4MAAAAAMAAJ}} Upon Huxley's death, as a memorial tribute, Lankester and [[Michael Foster (physiologist)|Sir Michael Foster]] edited his collected works in four volumes.</ref> was a close friend of the family, and whilst still a child Ray met [[Joseph Dalton Hooker|Hooker]], [[Arthur Henfrey (botanist)|Henfrey]], [[William Kingdon Clifford|Clifford]], [[Philip Henry Gosse|Gosse]], [[Richard Owen|Owen]], [[Edward Forbes|Forbes]], [[William Benjamin Carpenter|Carpenter]], [[Charles Lyell|Lyell]], [[Roderick Murchison|Murchison]], [[John Stevens Henslow|Henslow]] and [[Charles Darwin|Darwin]].<ref>[[#Lester|Lester]], pp. 9–11.</ref>

He was a large man with a large presence, of warm human sympathies and in his childhood a great admirer of [[Abraham Lincoln]]. His interventions, responses and advocacies were often colourful and forceful, as befitted an admirer of Huxley, for whom he worked as a demonstrator when a young man. In his personal manner he was not so adept as Huxley, and he made enemies by his rudeness.<ref>{{Cite book|last=Huxley|first=Julian|title=Memories|publisher=Allen & Unwin|year=1970|page=129}}</ref> This undoubtedly damaged and limited the second half of his career.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Doyle |first1=Arthur Conan |title=Memories and Adventures |date=16 February 2012 |publisher=Cambridge University Press |isbn=978-1-108-04404-2 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=LKusgEu5uvUC |language=en}}</ref>{{Page needed|date=November 2022}}

Lankester appears, thinly disguised, in several novels. He is the model for Sir Roderick Dover in [[H. G. Wells]]' ''[[Marriage (novel)|Marriage]]'' (Wells had been one of his students), and in [[Robert Briffault]]'s ''Europa'', which contains a brilliant portrait of Lankester, including his friendship with [[Karl Marx]]. (Lankester was one of the thirteen people at Marx's funeral.)<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.marxists.org/archive/marx/works/1883/death/dersoz1.htm |title=Karl Marx's Funeral |last=Engels |first=Friedrich |author-link=Friedrich Engels |publisher=[[marxists.org]] |date=22 March 1883 |access-date=4 June 2018}}</ref> He has also been suggested as the model for [[Professor Challenger]] in [[Arthur Conan Doyle]]'s ''[[The Lost World (Conan Doyle novel)|The Lost World]]'',<ref>[[#Lester|Lester]], pp. 60, 187–8, 199–202.</ref> but Doyle himself said that Challenger was based on a professor of physiology at the University of Edinburgh named [[William Rutherford (physiologist)|William Rutherford]].<ref>pxxiii in the Oxford ed of ''The Lost World''. William Rutherford (1839–1899), holder of the Edinburgh Chair of Physiology from 1874.</ref><ref>Arthur Conan Doyle 1930. [https://books.google.com/books/about/Memories_and_Adventures.html?id=LKusgEu5uvUC ''Memories and adventures'']. Murray, London. p. 32.</ref>

Lankester never married. In 1895, he was charged with disorderly conduct and resisting arrest while in the company of a group of female prostitutes on the street, but was acquitted.<ref>The Professor And The Policeman, ''Birmingham Daily Post'', 7 October 1895, p5.</ref> (It is incorrect, as has been alleged,<ref>McKenna, Neil "The Secret Life Of Oscar Wilde", Century, 2003, p. 250.</ref> that the charge concerned homosexual offences.) He died in [[London]] on 13 August 1929.

A finely decorated memorial plaque to him can be seen at the [[Golders Green Crematorium]], Hoop Lane, London.

== Career ==
[[File:Contributionstod00lank 0079 Fig 13 Ovary.jpg|thumb|left|Portion of a ripe ovary of ''Sepia'' (cuttlefish) showing ova of various sizes and some empty capsules c, c. From ''Contributions to the developmental history of the Mollusca.'']]Lankester became a [[Fellow#Oxford, Cambridge and Dublin|Fellow]] of [[Exeter College, Oxford]], in 1873. He co-edited the ''[[Journal of Cell Science|Quarterly Journal of Microscopical Science]]'' which his father had founded. From 1869 until his death he edited this journal (jointly with his father, 1869–1871).<ref name="NIE"/> He worked as one of Huxley's team at the new buildings in [[South Kensington]], and after the death of [[Francis Maitland Balfour|Francis Balfour]] became Huxley's intended successor.

Lankester was appointed [[Jodrell Professor of Zoology and Comparative Anatomy]] and curator of what is now the [[Grant Museum of Zoology and Comparative Anatomy|Grant Museum of Zoology]] at University College London from 1874 to 1890, [[Linacre Chair of Zoology|Linacre Professor of Comparative Anatomy]] at [[Merton College, Oxford]], from 1891 to 1898, and director of the Natural History Museum from 1898 to 1907. He was a founder in 1884 of the [[Marine Biological Association of the United Kingdom|Marine Biological Association]] and served as its second President between 1890 and 1929. Influential as teacher and writer on biological theories, comparative anatomy, and evolution, Lankester studied the [[protozoa]], [[mollusca]], and [[arthropoda]]. Lankester was elected an International Honorary Member of the [[American Academy of Arts and Sciences]] in 1902, and an International Member of both the United States [[National Academy of Sciences]] and the [[American Philosophical Society]] in 1903.<ref>{{Cite web |date=2023-02-09 |title=Edwin Ray Lankester |url=https://www.amacad.org/person/edwin-ray-lankester |access-date=2024-01-29 |website=American Academy of Arts & Sciences |language=en}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |title=E. Ray Lankester |url=https://www.nasonline.org/member-directory/deceased-members/20001339.html |access-date=2024-01-29 |website=www.nasonline.org}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |title=APS Member History |url=https://search.amphilsoc.org/memhist/search?creator=Edwin+R.+Lankester&title=&subject=&subdiv=&mem=&year=&year-max=&dead=&keyword=&smode=advanced |access-date=2024-01-29 |website=search.amphilsoc.org}}</ref> He was [[British honours system|knighted]] in 1907, awarded the Copley Medal of the Royal Society in 1913, and the [[Linnean Society of London]]'s [[Darwin-Wallace Medal]] in 1908.<ref>[[#Lester|Lester]].</ref>

At University College London, one person who attended his class was [[Raphael Weldon]] (1860–1906).<ref>[http://www.ucl.ac.uk/museums/zoology/collections/history History of the Grant Museum 1827 – present]. ucl.ac.uk.</ref> Another interesting student was [[Alfred Gibbs Bourne]], who went on to hold senior positions in biology and education in the [[British Raj|Indian Empire]].

[[Image:Ray Lankester.png|thumb|Ray Lankester by [[Leslie Ward]], ''[[Vanity Fair (UK magazine)|Vanity Fair]]'' 1905]]
After Huxley the most important influence on his thought was [[August Weismann]], the German zoologist who rejected [[Lamarckism]], and wholeheartedly advocated [[natural selection]] as the key force in evolution at a time when other biologists had doubts. Weismann's separation of [[germplasm]] (genetic material) from soma ([[somatic cells]]) was an idea which took many years before its significance was generally appreciated. Lankester was one of the first to see its importance: his full acceptance of selection came after reading Weismann's essays, some of which he translated into English.

[[Ernst Mayr]] said "It was Lankester who founded a school of selectionism at Oxford".<ref>{{Cite book|last=Mayr|first=Ernst|year=1982|title=The growth of biological thought|isbn=978-0674364462|publisher=Harvard University Press|page=535}}</ref> Those he influenced (in addition to Weldon) included [[Edwin Stephen Goodrich]] (Linacre chair in zoology at Oxford 1921–1946) and (indirectly) [[Julian Huxley]] (the evolutionary synthesis). In turn their disciples, such as [[E. B. Ford]] (ecological genetics), [[Gavin de Beer]] (embryology and evolution), [[Charles Sutherland Elton|Charles Elton]] (ecology) and [[Alister Hardy]] (marine biology) held sway during the middle years of the 20th century.

Lankester was a comparative anatomist of the [[Thomas Henry Huxley|Huxley]] school, working mostly on [[invertebrates]]. He was also a voluminous writer on biology for the general readership; in this he followed the example of his old mentor, Huxley.

He published over 200 papers during his career. For an overview of his scientific work, see the obituary notice by [[Edwin Stephen Goodrich|Edwin S. Goodrich]].<ref name=ESG/>

=== Invertebrates and degeneration ===
Lankester's books ''Developmental history of the Mollusca'' (1875) and ''Degeneration: a chapter in Darwinism'' (1880) established him as a leader in the study of invertebrate life histories. In ''Degeneration'' he adapted some ideas of [[Ernst Haeckel]] and [[Anton Dohrn]] (the founder and first director of the [[Stazione Zoologica]], [[Naples]]).<ref>Dohrn, Anton 1875. ''Der Ursprung der Wirbelthiere und das Principe des Functionswechsels''. Engelmann, Leipzig.</ref> Connecting Dohrn's work with [[Darwinism]], Lankester held that degeneration was one of three general avenues that evolution might take (the others being balance and elaboration). Degeneration was a suppression of form, "Any new set of conditions occurring to an animal which render its food and safety very easily attained, seem to lead to as a rule to Degeneration".<ref>[https://www.biodiversitylibrary.org/item/23841#page/45/mode/1up Lankester, E. Ray (1880) ''Degeneration: a chapter in Darwinism'', p. 33].</ref> Degeneration was well known in parasites, and Lankester gave several examples. In ''[[Sacculina]]'', a genus of [[barnacles]] which is a parasite of [[crab]]s, the female is little more than "a sac of eggs, and absorbed nourishment from the juices of its host by root-like processes" (+ [[Wood engraving|wood-engraved]] illustration). He called this degenerative evolutionary process in parasites ''retrogressive metamorphosis''.

Lankester pointed out that retrograde metamorphosis could be seen in many species that were not, strictly speaking, degenerate. "Were it not for the recapitulative phases of the [[barnacle]], we may doubt whether naturalists would ''ever'' have guessed it was a [[crustacean]]." The lizard ''[[Tetradactylus|Seps]]'' has limbs which are "ridiculously small", and ''[[Bipes (lizard)|Bipes]]'', a burrowing lizard, has no front limbs, and rear limbs reduced to stumps. The [[Dibamidae]] are legless lizards of tropical forests who also adopt the burrowing habit. [[Snakes#Evolution|Snakes]], which have evolved unique forms of [[Snakes#Locomotion|locomotion]], and are probably derived from lizards. Thus degeneration or retrogressive metamorphosis sometimes occurs as species [[Adaptation|adapt]] to changes in [[Habit (biology)|habit]] or way of life.

As evidence of degeneration, Lankester identifies the recapitulative development of the individual. This is the idea propagated by [[Ernst Haeckel]] as a source of evolutionary evidence ([[recapitulation theory]]). As antecedents of degeneration, Lankester lists:<ref>Lankester, E. Ray (1880) ''Degeneration: a chapter in Darwinism'', p. 52.</ref>
:1. [[Parasitism]]
:2. Fixity or immobility ([[Sessility (zoology)|sessile]] habit)
:3. Vegetative nutrition
:4. Excessive reduction in size
He also considered the [[axolotl]], a [[mole salamander]], which can breed whilst still in its gilled larval form without maturing into a terrestrial adult. Lankester noted that this process could take the subsequent evolution of the race into a totally different and otherwise improbable direction.<ref>[[#Lester|Lester]], p. 87.</ref> This idea, which Lankester called ''super-larvation'', is now called [[neoteny]].

Lankester extended the idea of degeneration to human societies, which carries little significance today, but it is a good example of a biological concept invading social science. Lankester and [[H. G. Wells]] used the idea as a basis for propaganda in favour of social and educational reform.<ref>{{Cite journal
 | pmid = 16769556
| year = 2006
| last1 = Barnett
| first1 = R
| title = Education or degeneration: E. Ray Lankester, H. G. Wells and the outline of history
| journal = Studies in History and Philosophy of Science Part C: Studies in History and Philosophy of Biological and Biomedical Sciences
| volume = 37
| issue = 2
| pages = 203–29
| doi = 10.1016/j.shpsc.2006.03.002
}}</ref>

=== Trouble at the Museum ===
In Lankester's time the [[Natural History Museum, London|Natural History Museum]] had its own building in [[South Kensington]], but in financial and administrative matters it was subordinate to the [[British Museum]]. Moreover, the Superintendent (= Director) of the NHM was the subordinate of the Principal Librarian of the BM, a fact which was bound to cause trouble since that august person was not a scientist.<ref>[[Albert Günther|Günther, Albert]] (1975) ''A century of zoology at the British Museum through the lives of two Keepers, 1815–1914''. London. {{ISBN|0712906185}}</ref><ref>Günther, Albert (1981) ''The founders of science at the British Museum'', 1753–1900. Halesworth, London. {{ISBN|0950727601}}</ref><ref>[[William T. Stearn|Stearn, William T.]] (1981) ''The Natural History Museum at South Kensington''. London. {{ISBN|9780565090302}}</ref> We can see that the conflict which took place was one aspect of the struggle undertaken, in their different ways, by [[Richard Owen|Owen]], [[Joseph Dalton Hooker|Hooker]], [[Thomas Henry Huxley|Huxley]] and [[John Tyndall|Tyndall]] to emancipate science from enslavement by traditional forces.

There was trouble from the moment Lankester put forward his candidature for the office vacated by Sir [[William Henry Flower|William Flower]], who was on the point of death. The Principal Librarian, Sir [[Edward Maunde Thompson]], the [[palaeographer]], was also the Secretary to the Trustees, and hence in a strong position to get his own way. There is good evidence that Thompson, an efficient and authoritarian figure, intended to take control of the whole Museum, including the Natural History departments.<ref>[[Peter Chalmers Mitchell|Mitchell, P. Chalmers]] (1937) ''My fill of days''. London. pp. 170ff.</ref><ref>Sir [[John Evans (archaeologist)|John Evans]] to Lankester, Lankester family papers; reported in [[#Lester|Lester]], pp. 128–9.</ref> In the absence of Huxley, who had led most of the battles for over thirty years, it was left to the younger generation to struggle for the independence of science, [[Peter Chalmers Mitchell|Mitchell]], [[Edward Bagnall Poulton|Poulton]], and [[Raphael Weldon|Weldon]] were his main supporters, and together they lobbied the Trustees, the Government and in the press to get their point over. Finally Lankester was appointed instead of Lazarus Fletcher (a relative nonentity).<ref>[[#Lester|Lester]], Chapter 11, pp. 127ff.</ref>

Lankester was appointed in 1898, and the outcome was inevitable. Eight years of conflict with Maunde Thompson followed, with Thompson constantly interfering in the affairs of the museum and obstructing Lankester's attempt to improve the museum. Lankester resigned in 1907, at the direction of Thompson, who had discovered a clause in the regulations which allowed him to call for the resignation of officials at the age of 60. [[Lazarus Fletcher]] was appointed in his stead. There was a vast clamour in the press, and from foreign zoologists protesting at the treatment of Lankester. That Lankester had some friends in high places was shown by the Archbishop of Canterbury offering him an enhanced pension, and the knighthood that was bestowed on him the next year.

The issues raised by this affair did not end there. Eventually the NHM gained, first, its administrative freedom, then finally there was a complete separation from the BM. Today the [[British Library]], the British Museum and the Natural History Museum all occupy separate buildings, and have complete legal, administrative and financial independence from each other.

=== Rationalism ===
[[File:Sir Edwin Ray Lankester 1918.jpg|thumb|240px|Sir Edwin Ray Lankester in 1918]]

Lankester had close family connections with [[Suffolk]] (the [[Woodbridge, Suffolk|Woodbridge]] and [[Felixstowe]] area), and was an active member of the [[Rationalist]] group associated with the circle of [[Thomas Huxley]], [[Samuel Laing (science writer)|Samuel Laing]] and others. He was a friend of the Rationalist [[Edward Clodd]] of [[Aldeburgh]]. From 1901 to his death in 1929 he was Honorary President of the [[Ipswich Museum]]. He became convinced of the human workmanship of the (now unfavoured) 'Pre-palaeolithic' implements and rostro-carinates, and championed their cause at the Royal Society in 1910–1912. Through correspondence he became the scientific mentor of the Suffolk prehistorian James Reid Moir (1879–1944). He was a friend of [[Karl Marx]] in the latter's later years and was among the few persons present at his funeral.<ref>{{Cite journal|title=The friendship of Edwin Ray Lankester and Karl Marx: the last episode in Marx's intellectual evolution|first=Lewis S.|last=Feuer|author-link=Lewis Samuel Feuer|journal=Journal of the History of Ideas|volume=40|issue=4|year=1979|pages=633–648|doi=10.2307/2709363|jstor=2709363}}</ref>

Lankester was active in attempting to expose the frauds of [[Spiritualism (movement)|Spiritualist]] mediums during the 1920s. He was an important writer of popular science, his weekly newspaper columns over many years being assembled and reprinted in a series of books entitled ''Science from an Easy Chair'' (first series, 1910; second series, 1912).

== Publications ==
His professional writings include the following:

* ''A Monograph of the Cephalaspidian Fishes'' (1870)
* [https://archive.org/details/b21950428 ''On comparative longevity in man and the lower animals''] (1870)
* [https://archive.org/details/contributionstod00lank ''Contributions to the Developmental History of the Mollusca''] (1875)
* [https://archive.org/details/lankester-1877-quarterlyjournal-171877lond Notes on the embryology and classification of the Animal Kingdom: comprising a Revision of Speculations relative to the Origin and Significance of the Germ-layers] Quarterly Journal of Microscopical Science Vol 17 Pages 399-454 (1877)
* {{cite book | url=https://archive.org/details/degenerationchap00lank | title=Degeneration: a chapter in Darwinism | postscript=none | ref={{SfnRef|''Degeneration''|1880}} | year=1880 }} (1880)
* [https://archive.org/details/Lankester1881 ''Limulus an Arachnid''] Quarterly Journal of Microscopical Science Vol 21 Pages 504-548 (1881)
* [https://archive.org/details/advancementofsci00lank ''The Advancement of Science''] (1889), collected essays
* ''A Treatise on Zoology'' (1900–09), (editor)<ref name=treatise>See [https://www.biodiversitylibrary.org/bibliography/1018 Overview] of all volumes that appeared of ''A Treatise on Zoology'' in [[Biodiversity Heritage Library]].</ref>
** [https://archive.org/details/treatiseonzoolog0101lank Part 1, fascicle 1: Introduction and Protozoa] (1909) by [[Sydney J. Hickson|S.J. Hickson]], [[Joseph Jackson Lister (naturalist)|J.J. Lister]], [[Frederick William Gamble|F.W. Gamble]], [[Arthur Willey|A. Willey]], H.M. Woodcock, [[Raphael Weldon|W.F.R. Weldon]] and E. Ray Lankester
** [https://archive.org/details/treatiseonzoolog0102lank Part 1, fasc. 2: Introduction and Protozoa] (1903) by S.J. Hickson, J.J. Lister,F.W. Gamble, A. Willey, H.M. Woodcock, W.F.R. Weldon and E. Ray Lankester
** [https://archive.org/details/treatiseonzoolog02lank Part 2: The Porifera and Coelentera] (1900) by [[Edward Alfred Minchin|E.A. Minchin]], [[George Herbert Fowler|G. Herbert Fowler]] and [[Gilbert Charles Bourne|Gilbert C. Bourne]] ('Introduction' by E. Ray Lankester)
** [https://archive.org/details/treatiseonzoolog03lank Part 3: The Echinoderma] (1900) by [[Francis Arthur Bather|F.A. Bather]], [[John Walter Gregory|J.W. Gregory]] and [[Edwin Stephen Goodrich|E.S. Goodrich]]<ref name=zoo3>[[:s:en:The Zoologist/4th series, vol 4 (1900)/Issue 707/Notices of New Books#242|Review]] in ''[[The Zoologist]]'', [[Image:wikisource-logo.svg|16x16px|alt=wikisource logo]] [[:s:en:The Zoologist, 4th series, vol 4 (1900)|4th series, vol 4]], [[:s:en:The Zoologist/4th series, vol 4 (1900)/Issue 707|issue 707]] (May, 1900),  p. 242–3.</ref>
** [https://archive.org/details/treatiseonzoolog04lank Part 4: The Platyhelmia, Mesozoa, and Nemertini] (1901) by [[William Benham (zoologist)|W. Blaxland Benham]]<ref name=zoo4>Review in ''The Zoologist'', [[:s:en:The Zoologist, 4th series, vol 5 (1901)|4th series, vol 5]], issue 725 (November, 1901), p. 432–433.</ref>
** [https://archive.org/details/treatiseonzoolog05lank Part 5: Mollusca] (1906) by [[Paul Pelseneer]]
** [https://archive.org/details/treatiseonzoolog0703lank Part 7, fasc. 3: Appendiculata—Crustacea] (1909) by [[William Thomas Calman|W.T. Calman]]
** [https://archive.org/details/treatiseonzoolog09lank Part 9, fasc. 1: Vertebrata Craniata] (1909) by E.S. Goodrich
* [https://archive.org/details/extinctanimals1905lank ''Extinct Animals''] (1905)
* [https://archive.org/details/cu31924009162359 ''Nature and Man''] (1905) ([[Romanes Lecture]] for 1905)
* [https://archive.org/details/kingdomofman00lankrich ''The Kingdom of Man''] (1907)
* [https://archive.org/details/sciencefromeasyc00lankrich ''Science from an Easy Chair''] (1910)
* [https://archive.org/details/b29813153 ''Great and Small Things''] (1923)
* ''Fireside Science'' (1934)
* Lankester, R. (1925) ''Some diversions of a Naturalist'', Methuen & Co, Ltd., London. pp. 220.
The ''Lankester Pamphlets'' are held at the [[Marine Biological Association of the United Kingdom#National Marine Biological Library|National Marine Biological Library]] at the Marine Biological Association in Plymouth. These consist of 43 volumes of reprints, with an author index.<ref>[http://www.mba.ac.uk/NMBL/collection/special_collections.htm The Lankester Pamphlets]. National Marine Biological Library.</ref>

{{botanist|Lank.}}

==Lectures==
In 1903 he was invited to deliver the [[Royal Institution Christmas Lectures|Royal Institution Christmas Lecture]] on ''Extinct Animals''.

==References==
{{Reflist|30em}}

==Bibliography==
* {{Cite book|ref=Lester|last=Lester|first=Joe E.|year=1995|title=Ray Lankester: the making of modern British biology (edited, with additions, by Peter J. Bowler)|publisher=BSHS Monograph #9}}

==Further reading==
*{{Cite news
|pmid = 8992527
|last=Ghiselin
|first=M T
|publication-date=1996
|year=1996
|title=Rediscovering the science of the history of life
|volume=18
|issue=1
|periodical=History and Philosophy of the Life Sciences
|pages=123–8
}}
*{{cite journal
|pmid = 10397781
|last=Milner
|first=R
|date=15 June 1999

|title=Huxley's bulldog: the battles of E. Ray Lankester (1846–1929)
|volume=257
|issue=3
|pages=90–5
|doi=10.1002/(SICI)1097-0185(19990615)257:3<90::AID-AR5>3.0.CO;2-8
|journal=The Anatomical Record
|s2cid=21576549
}}

==External links==
{{Commons category}}
{{Wikisource author}}
* [https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1002/%28SICI%291097-0185%2819990615%29257%3A3%3C90%3A%3AAID-AR5%3E3.0.CO%3B2-8 Richard Milner's biography of Lankester]
* {{Gutenberg author |id=32398| name=Edwin Ray Lankester}}
* {{Internet Archive author |sname=Edwin Ray Lankester |sopt=t}}
* {{Librivox author |id=15764}}
* [https://www.biodiversitylibrary.org/creator/1242 Works by Ray Lankester] at Biodiversity Heritage Library
* ''[https://catalog.lindahall.org/permalink/01LINDAHALL_INST/1nrd31s/alma99882973405961 Extinct Animals, by E. Ray Lankester]'' (1905) - digital facsimile from [[Linda Hall Library]]
* ''[https://catalog.lindahall.org/permalink/01LINDAHALL_INST/1nrd31s/alma991183643405961 The Kingdom of Man, by E. Ray Lankester]'' (1907) - digital facsimie from [[Linda Hall Library]]

;Individual works<!--Please only the most important keep this list short-->
* [https://www.biodiversitylibrary.org/bibliography/11154 ''Developmental History of the Mollusca'' (1875)]
* [https://www.biodiversitylibrary.org/bibliography/4740 ''Degeneration: a chapter in Darwinism'' (1880)] 
*[https://archive.org/details/advancementofsci00lankrich ''The Advancement of Science'' (1890)]
*[https://archive.org/details/zoologicalarticl00lankrich ''Zoological Articles contributed to the "Encyclopædia Britannica"'' (1891)]
*[https://archive.org/details/kingdomofman00lankrich ''The Kingdom of Man'' (1907)]
*[https://archive.org/details/sciencefromeasyc00lankiala ''Science From an Easy Chair'' (1913)]
*[https://archive.org/details/sciencefrom00lankrich ''Science From an Easy Chair: A Second Series'' (1913)]
*[https://archive.org/details/diversionsofnatu00lankrich ''Diversions of a Naturalist'' (1915)]
*[https://archive.org/details/secretsofearthse00lankrich ''Secrets of Earth and Sea'' (1920)]
* ''A Treatise on Zoology'' (1900–1909) ([https://archive.org/details/treatiseonzoolog01lankrich Volume 1], [https://archive.org/details/treatiseonzoolog02lankrich Volume 2], [https://archive.org/details/treatiseonzoolog03lankrich Volume 3], [https://archive.org/details/treatiseonzoolog04lankrich Volume 4], [https://archive.org/details/treatiseonzoolog05lankrich Volume 5], [https://archive.org/details/treatiseonzoolog06lankrich Volume 6], [https://archive.org/details/treatiseonzoolog07lankrich Volume 7], [https://archive.org/details/treatiseonzoolog08lankrich Volume 8], [https://archive.org/details/treatiseonzoolog09lankrich Volume 9])

{{S-start}}
{{S-aca}}
{{Succession box
| before = [[Augustus Desiré Waller]]
| title  = [[Fullerian Professor of Physiology]]
| years  = 1898–1901
| after  = [[Allan Macfadyen]]}}
{{S-end}}

{{Copley Medallists 1901-1950}}
{{Authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Lankester, Ray}}
[[Category:1847 births]]
[[Category:1929 deaths]]
[[Category:Academics of University College London]]
[[Category:Alumni of Christ Church, Oxford]]
[[Category:Alumni of Downing College, Cambridge]]
[[Category:British science writers]]
[[Category:British zoologists]]
[[Category:Critics of creationism]]
[[Category:Critics of Lamarckism]]
[[Category:Directors of the Natural History Museum, London]]
[[Category:English male journalists]]
[[Category:English science writers]]
[[Category:English zoologists]]
[[Category:British evolutionary biologists]]
[[Category:Fellows of Exeter College, Oxford]]
[[Category:Fellows of Merton College, Oxford]]
[[Category:Fellows of the Royal Society]]
[[Category:Foreign associates of the National Academy of Sciences]]
[[Category:Corresponding members of the Saint Petersburg Academy of Sciences]]
[[Category:Fullerian Professors of Physiology]]
[[Category:Knights Commander of the Order of the Bath]]
[[Category:Linacre Professors of Zoology]]
[[Category:People educated at St Paul's School, London]]
[[Category:People from Westminster]]
[[Category:Presidents of the British Science Association]]
[[Category:Rationalists]]
[[Category:Recipients of the Copley Medal]]
[[Category:Royal Medal winners]]
[[Category:Writers from the City of Westminster]]
[[Category:Jodrell Professors of Zoology and Comparative Anatomy]]
[[Category:Members of the Royal Society of Sciences in Uppsala]]
[[Category:Critics of Spiritualism]]
[[Category:Members of the American Philosophical Society]]