Zoological Society. 409 



at base 3 lines, length of last whorl 2 lines, length of penul- 

 timate whorl 1| line. 



I imagine this may be the Scotch fossil referred by Mr. Salter 

 (Quart. Geol. Journ. for August 1851) to the Upper Ludlow, 

 Turritella {Holopella) obsoleta of Sowerby, as it has very much 

 the same size and shape ; and the distinctive spiral lineation re- 

 quires a good cross light and some care to detect ; but with these 

 and a lens of low power it may be always seen, even in the sand- 

 stone casts, and the species thus easily distinguished from that 

 of the newer rocks. The sutures are always more oblique than in 

 the H. obsoleta. The slight inequality of size of the striae seems 

 in parts subalternate, in parts irregular. 



Common in the sandstone of Mulock quarry, Dalquorhan. 



{Col. University of Cambridge.) 



PROCEEDINGS OF LEARNED SOCIETIES. 



ZOOLOGICAL SOCIETY. 



July 9, 1851.— John Gould, Esq., F.R.S., in the Chair. 

 The following paper was read : — 



On the generic subdivision of the Bovid^e, or Hollow- 

 horned Ruminants. By H. N. Turner, Jun. 



In the series of observations upon the Ungulate Mammalia, of which 

 I attempted last winter to lay before the Society the more general re- 

 sults, my attention was also in some measure directed towards the de- 

 tailed arrangement of those portions of the order which have gene- 

 rally proved subjects of difficulty. Of these, the classification of the 

 Bovidce, or hollow-horned Ruminants, has certainly been the greatest, 

 since they form a well-marked natural group, including a great variety 

 of forms, with but few remarkable differences of structure. I soon 

 found, however, that even setting aside some of the more strikingly- 

 modified genera, the distinctions afforded by the skull were much 

 more decided than any that I could find among the Cervidce, which, 

 from their being less rich in number and variety, were always easier 

 to subdivide correctly. Not having been able at that time to observe 

 the skulls of certain of the more remarkable forms, I set the matter 

 aside for better opportunities ; and now that the large and interesting 

 collection of hunters' spoils which Mr. Roualeyn Gordon Cumming 

 has brought together, and is at present exhibiting in London, has 

 given me the opportunity of supplying some of these desiderata, I 

 venture, although there are yet a few points I could wish to ascertain, 

 to lay this portion of my researches before the Society. 



There cannot be a doubt that the horns present the best and most 

 readily discernible characters, or that, when the genera are once cor- 

 rectly determined, they may be pretty easily defined by the variations 

 of these parts alone ; but it has long since been seen how the con- 



