304: Zoological Society :— 
preface to this edition, that the former contained many imperfections 
and mistakes, but that in this the whole work has been corrected, 
revised, and in parts almost re-written. This confession has pro- 
bably been made in deference to the strictures of a few captious 
critics, who cannot understand, or are unable to tolerate, good honest 
Anglo-Saxon (a little foo honest, it may be, at times), perfectly suited 
to the bricklayers, carpenters, and blacksmiths for whom it was in- 
tended. But it appears to us that one of the most valuable (because 
one of the most rare) gifts which Prof. Ramsay possesses is that of 
being able, with perfect ease and apparently without effort, to adapt 
himself so well to the calibre of his audience. He is thus equally at 
home, though acting so differently, as President of the Geological 
Society and as a teacher cf geology to working men. 
The principal addition made to the book in this edition is a little 
coloured geological map of Great Britain, done wonderfully well, 
considering the scale, and extremely useful as a help to the unlearned 
in their attempts to understand the subjects treated of. Professor 
Ramsay’s plan of instruction in this ease is to associate the peculiari- 
ties of the geological structure of the country with those of its surface- 
configuration; and thus he is enabled to impress more vividly on the 
mind the salient features of the one subject, and to explain more 
easily the causes of the phenomena included in the other. Nothing 
could be more simple, or better adapted to the audience, than this 
plan of procedure ; and the exhaustion of the first edition of these 
Lectures in less than a twelvemonth shows that nothing could be 
more acceptable, or better understood, by the public at large. 
PROCEEDINGS OF LEARNED SOCIETIES. 
ZOOLOGICAL SOCIETY. 
Jan. 26, 1864.—E. W. H. Holdsworth, Esq., F.Z.S., in the Chair, 
Notes on Seats (PHocip#®), INCLUDING THE DEsCRIPTION 
or A New Serax (Haricyon RicHarpit) rrom THE WEST 
Coast or Norta America. By Dr. J. E. Gray, F.R.S. 
Mr. Charles B. Wood, the Surgeon of H.M.S. ‘ Hecate,’ has very 
kindly sent to the British Museum, along with other interesting spe- 
cimens from the north-western part of North America, the skeleton 
of a Seal from Fraser’s River, and the skull of a Seal obtained on the 
west coast of Vancouver’s Island. 
The skull was procured from the natives, who had the animal 
towed along the side of their canoe. They refused to part with the 
entire animal, but were at length induced to sell the head. 
The examination of the skulls shows that the two Seals evidently 
belong to the same species, the specimen from Fraser’s River being 
adult, and the other not quite so old. Mr. Wood observes that ‘the 
younger Seal was captured among the islands in Queen Charlotte’s 
Sound, at the north end of Vancouver ; has a fur of a dark brown, 
