Zoological Society. 397 
The Elements of Botany. By A. De Jussizv. Translated by 
J. H. Witson, F.L.S. &c. Van Voorst. 
The “ Cours élémentaire” is so well known that it is unnecessary 
for us now to speak of the great merits it possesses ; we have here 
merely to express an opinion on the manner in which Mr. Wilson has 
executed the task of translating into English. Some few points 
might be adverted to where there is room for improvement, but on 
the whole the translation is very well done, and exhibits more than 
the average amount of care and fidelity. With the help of the ori- 
ginal woodcuts and the adoption of a similar page and type, the En- 
glish version, which perhaps retains rather too much of the French 
idiom, has been made quite a reproduction of the original, and as 
such will prove of great utility to those who cannot use the French 
version with facility. 
PROCEEDINGS OF LEARNED SOCIETIES. 
ZOOLOGICAL SOCIETY. 
May 23, 1848.—R. C. Griffith, Esq., in the Chair. 
OBSERVATIONS RELATING TO SOME OF THE FoRAMINA AT THE BASE 
OF THE SKULL IN MamMaALIA, AND ON THE CLASSIFICATION OF 
THE ORDER Carnivora. By H.N. Turner, Jun. 
Of all those parts of an animal frame to which the zoologist may 
direct his search for characters truly indicative of the affinities of the 
species, or of the group to which it obviously belongs, there is per- 
haps none in which a greater number of such characters are presented 
at one view than in the lower surface of the skull. Here are seen,— 
not only the teeth, whose differences of structure always have, and 
always will be, made considerable use of in assigning characters to 
zoological divisions, in whatever way our opinions as to the value of 
the characters derived from these organs may be modified by further 
-researches,—but also the form and development of the zygomatic 
arch, with the capacity of the temporal fossa, and the mode in which 
the jaw is articulated; the form and extent of the bony palate, with 
its pterygoid appendages, the situation of the occipital foramen, and 
the structure of the condyles to which the atlas articulates, and many 
other characters of greater or less apparent consequence, may in the 
under surface of the cranium be all distinguished at a glance. 
Accordingly we find that such of our more modern naturalists 
whose endeavour has been to fix classification upon a truly philo- 
sophic basis, instead of resting satisfied with the arbitrary sub- 
divisions formerly in use, have directed their observations particularly 
to this part, so that the more obvious characters which it affords 
have been well observed, and turned to very useful account in deter- 
mining the extent and affinities of groups ; but in some cases, where, 
from the very close alliance existing between the genera, the differ- 
ences presented in this part are necessarily very minute, their im- 
portance in a zoological point of view has not as yet been recognized. 
As some of the characters of which I propose to avail myself in the 
