482 Zoological Society : — 



he has done so ; has no idea that other species are alHed to it, the 

 characters of which it is desirable for him to examine ; and he — a 

 mere collector — is led to suppose himself to be a botanist. It may, 

 perhaps, be said that in the book before us the author disclaims all 

 intention of advancing science ; but, as he wrote it expressly as a 

 field- companion, and states, although incorrectly, that it is the only 

 modern field-book which is portable, he ought to have taken care that 

 it supplied all that is likely to be required in the field. The book 

 should have been called** A Synopsis of the 6e5^-X:/eciz<7>i British Plants," 

 for nearly all those which present the slightest difficulty or doubt are 

 omitted, and stigmatized as the result of " minute and useless subdi- 

 vision." Our experience of students in the field has taught us that 

 it is not the distinctive points of the common and well-known spe- 

 cies which they require to have always at hand, for with such plants 

 they very soon become famihar, but that the characters supposed to 

 separate those which are dubious or critical are often asked for. 

 Mr. Childs treats this want as non-existent, and no reader of his book 

 alone would discover that there are such plants, or that botanists 

 have ever differed about them. The author probably supposes that 

 his book is to lead its readers to the use of others of a more elabo- 

 rate character ; but he must know that many of them will rest satis- 

 fied without that further study, to which he certainly does not en- 

 courage them to proceed. 



The proper sequence of the Orders is not determined by botanists, 

 but most authors have thought it well to follow a uniform system 

 founded upon that of DeCandolle. Mr. Childs has deviated from 

 this, and arranged them in a totally different manner. His plan may 

 be good (although we have great doubts upon the subject), but we 

 know experimentally the extreme inconvenience caused, even to those 

 who have made some advance in botany, by deserting the usual order. 

 To the beginner this is of great consequence, for his facility in using 

 other books will be much diminished by having learned to look for 

 plants in a different position in the series from that which they 

 occupy in all the best Floras of this and other countries. 



PROCEEDINGS OF LEARNED SOCIETIES. 



ZOOLOGICAL SOCIETY. 



November 25, 1856.— J. S. Gaskoin, Esq., F.L.S., in the Chair. 



Mr. Tegetmeier brought before the notice of the Members living 

 specimens and preparations illustrating the very remarkable pecu- 

 liarities existing in the skulls of the feather-crested variety of the 

 domestic Fowl, now known as Polish. In these birds, the anterior 

 portion of the frontal bone is expanded into a large spherical tuber- 

 osity or cyst, which is partly osseous and partly membranous ; the 

 anterior portions of the brain are entirely contained in this tuberosity. 



