SCIENCE-GOSSIP. 



i5 



in the person of Mr. Alex. M. Rodger, formerly 

 assistant to Professor D'Arcy W. Thompson, 

 University College, Dundee, and under his able 

 guidance the arrangements of the collections will be 

 pushed on with all possible speed. 



It is therefore encouraging to know that — thanks 

 to the combined effort of a humble body of zealous 

 workers, and to the hearty co-operation of their 

 fellow-citizens and others, Perth will at no distant 

 date be in possession of a Natural History Museum, 

 which will at once be an honour to science and 

 a credit and an ornament to the city. Surely such 

 monuments as these bode well for the advance- 

 ment of science. 



No history of a society would be complete without 

 a brief notice of the life and work of its founder and 

 organiser ; and with the name of the Perthshire 

 Society of Natural Science that of the late Dr. 

 Frank Buchanan White must ever be associated. 

 From the date of its foundation to the day of his 

 death, December 3rd, 1894, he devoted much of 

 his valuable time to promote the interests and 

 welfare of this Society ; and his diligent work and 

 exemplary care won for him the esteem and 

 admiration of all with whom he came in contact. 

 His natural modesty led him at all times to under- 

 estimate his own abilities, and to under- value his 

 own services, his aim being to keep these persis- 

 tently in the background ; but those who were 

 more closely conversant with the affairs of the 

 Perthshire Society of Natural Science know only 

 too well how very much that Society is indebted to 

 him for its present influential position. Even the 

 casual reader of its " Transactions" cannot but be 

 struck by the amount of valuable work done by 

 him, and by the wide range of his subjects. 



For the first five years of the Society's existence 

 Dr. White held the post of president ; for the next 

 two years he was secretary. In 1882 he was elected 

 editor, which post, however, he resigned, in April, 

 1883. He was re-appointed president in 1884. and 

 held this office till March 10th, 1892, when he 

 retired, as already stated, from office in favour of 

 Mr. Henry Coates, F.R.S. 



It is impossible in a passing tribute to his memory 

 to do justice to the many excellent qualities which 

 endeared him to his fellow-workers, as only those 

 who knew him best, and who enjoyed the privilege 

 of his personal friendship, can adequately estimate 

 the great loss which the Perthshire Society of 

 Natural Science and all students and lovers 

 of nature have sustained in his untimely end. 

 Certainly his was a record of " duties well- 

 performed and days well-spent." 



The block of exterior of the Museum building is 

 from photos by Mr. Magnus Jackson, of Perth ; 

 while the sketch of interior is by Mr. W. M. 

 Fraser, of the same city. 

 Perth ; February 15//1, 1895. 



NATURAL HISTORY 

 EXHIBITION. 



nHHE City of London Entomological and 

 Natural History Society held an exhibition 

 of natural science objects in the library of the 

 London Institution on February 5th, which was 

 well supported by members, exhibitors and visitors. 



The most important and novel exhibit was that 

 of Mr. Thomas Hanbury, of fruit, seeds and 

 flowers from his well-known gardens at La Mortola, 

 in Northern Italy. Among these were freshly- 

 gathered fruit still attached to the branches with 

 green leaves, of thirty species of oranges, lemons 

 and citrons. One beautiful orange was grown on 

 a tree which is a direct descendant from the 

 orange tree which still flourishes at Rome after 

 600 years cultivation. This is the more interest- 

 ing as there seems little reason to doubt its history, 

 which attributes to the parent the honour of being 

 the first plant of Citrus aitrantium that was introduced 

 into Europe. The whole time it has been tenderly 

 cared by successive generations of monks of the 

 monastery, where it grows. Other portions of this 

 fine exhibit included deliciously-scented fruit of 

 Chinese quince {Cydonea sinensis), various sprays of 

 Hnkea trees allied to the eucalyptus, with oddly- 

 shaped fruit, curiously hairy cones of Banksia 

 marcescens, and many more. Mr. F. J. Hanbury 

 showed a fine collection of British plants, many 

 being exceedingly rare and some now extinct, for 

 instance, Orchis hircina. The most important 

 portion of this exhibit was upwards of fifty species 

 and varieties, being a portion of Mr. Hanbury's 

 magnificent series of the British Hieracia, or hawk- 

 weeds, accompanied by specimen copies of his 

 handsomely-coloured drawings and monograph of 

 this group, now in process of publication. Mr. 

 Hanbury drew our attention to specimens of 

 Hier actum hyparcticum from Sutherland, its only 

 known station in these Isles. This is interesting 

 because it is a common plant in Southern Green- 

 land and Norway, with this single known connect- 

 ing-link between the two continents. 



The president of the society, Mr. J. A. Clark, 

 showed a large case of wasps' nests. Those of 

 Vespa britannica were attached to heather, fir, yew 

 and ivy. One nest of V. arborea was found on 

 Wimbledon Common. He had also six drawers 

 each of British and exotic lepidoptera, the former 

 containing many fine varieties. Among the 

 president's birds were two cinnamon-coloured 

 blackbirds (both from the same district in Mon- 

 mouthshire), an almost white variety of yellow- 

 bunting, and a hawfinch with a strong band of 

 white feathers on the wing covers. Mr. C. H. 

 Williams brought a perfect hermaphrodite, A rgynnis 

 paphia. This fritillary butterfly shows the male 

 markings on the left pair of wings and those of the 



