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.
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