56 ANNALS OF SCOTTISH NATURAL HISTORY 



was sampled and washed, that the Arctic leaves and the Apus 

 remains were found, and it became manifest that an Arctic 

 lake once existed there, in which Arctic leaves had been 

 drifted and the Apus swarmed in thousands in the later 

 times of the Great Ice A^e of Scotland. 



OPENING OF THE NEW PERTHSHIRE NATURAL 

 HISTORY MUSEUM. 



ON Friday, 291)1 November, the New Museum of the Perthshire 

 Society of Natural Science, which has been in course of construction 

 during the last three years, was formally opened to the public, the 

 inauguration ceremony being performed by Sir William H. Flower, 

 K.C.B., F.R.S., Director of the British Museum of Natural History. 

 The event was one of more than local interest, as the Perthshire 

 Society has long occupied an important place in the annals of Scottish 

 natural history. It was fitting therefore that the function should 

 have been combined with the annual gathering of the East of Scot- 

 land Union of Naturalists' Societies, and that zoologists, botanists, 

 and geologists from all parts of Scotland should have assembled in 

 the ancient capital to offer their felicitations to their Perthshire 

 brethren. 



For those of our readers who have not yet had an opportunity 

 of inspecting the Museum for themselves, we may state that, both as 

 regards construction and arrangement, everything has been devised 

 and carried out on thoroughly scientific lines. This result has been 

 achieved by a happy combination of voluntary and professional 

 labour ; the former representing the work of the group of naturalists 

 who have formed the "inner circle" of the Society during the last 

 quarter of a century, and the latter the efforts of Mr. Alex. M. 

 Rodger, who was appointed Curator of the Museum about a year 

 ago. It is right to add that Mr. Rodger has proved himself not 

 only skilled in museum work, but an enthusiastic naturalist, and 

 zealous for the wellbeing of the Society. 



We hope in a future issue to give some detailed account of the 

 collections, but in the meantime we can only give a bare outline of 

 the arrangement. The new building consists of a lofty and well- 

 proportioned hall, 44 feet long by 34 feet broad, lighted from the 

 roof, and with a gallery running round it. The architectural details 

 have been most carefully carried out, both with regard to the proper 

 preservation and display of the collections, and also with regard to 

 a pleasing general effect. The cases are of the most substantial 



