The return from his three years on the Continent may be said to mark the close of Ray's apprenticeship to his work in science. The tour had given him a great range of material, larger perhaps than that of any previous botanist except De l'Ecluse, and including a knowledge of animals, birds, reptiles, and fishes such as no other Englishman had ever acquired. In addition it had given him status in the world of learning and a measure of confidence in his own capacity. The shy student who in 1660 had hesitated to send a copy of his Cambridge Catalogue to Hartlib was now the friend of Hoffmann and Corneli and Marchetti, of Steno and Magnol and Marchand; and could thenceforth exchange opinions with the leaders of contemporary research on level terms. In some sense the rest of his life was the examination and exposition of the data thus obtained. Though he did in fact undertake a large amount of further field-work and never gave up the desire for it, this, except in insects and to a less extent in cryptogams, was only supplementary.