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 ])arts ahiiost rc-wvitten. 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 too 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 ada[)t 

 himself so well to the calibre of his audience. He is thus equally at 

 home, though acting so ditferently, as President of the Geological 

 Society and as a teacher of 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 case 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. II. Holdsworth, Esq., F.Z.S., in the Chair. 



Notes on Seals (Phocid^), including the Description 

 OF A New Seal (IIalicyon Richardii) from the West 

 Coast of North 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 Eraser'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 Eraser'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. 



