H 



SCIENCE-GOSSIP. 



auspices, 57 excursions made, and two very suc- 

 cessful conversaziones held. 



In regard to publications the Society had brought 

 out several in this period, the first being the in- 

 augural presidential address, which was followed 

 by a small volume of" Proceedings,'* a continuation 

 of which, was, however, abandoned in favour of 

 "The Scottish Naturalist,'' the first number of 

 which appeared in January, 1871. The publica- 

 tion of this journal was retained by the Society till 

 1S78, when it was taken over by Messrs. Blackwood 

 and Sons, under the same editorship. In 1883, 

 after the lapse of a few months, it began a new- 

 career in the hands of Messrs. Cowan and Co., of 

 Perth. The year 1892 saw a new development of 

 it under a change of ownership, its new title being 

 "The Annals of Scottish Natural History," under 

 which designation it is now being published. 



Other publications of the Society are the 

 "Fauna Perthensis,'' the first part of which also 

 appeared in 1871, as a catalogue of the Perthshire 

 lepidoptera, which was followed by "The Pro- 

 ceedings of the Perthshire Society of Natural 

 Science," the first part being published in 1881. 



Up to March 8th, 1888, fully 600 persons had 

 been admitted as members of the Society, the 

 greatest number elected in one year being seventy- 

 eight, and the least five. At this date the museum 

 contained about 20,000 specimens, while the library 

 boasted the possession of about 600 volumes, so 

 that the resolution of 1867 of forming a museum 

 and library had been well carried out. Rumours 

 were at this time prevalent as to a projected 

 museum extension, but it was not until the 10th 

 of March, 1892, that the newly-elected President 

 (Mr. Henry Coates, F.R.S.), in acknowledging the 

 indebtedness of the Society to its retiring President, 

 Dr. F. Buchanan White, proposed to raise a testi- 

 monial fund to him, " to be devoted to the scheme 

 of museum extension which he has had so much at 

 heart." As the result of this suggestion, an appeal 

 was issued during the summer of 1892, and so 

 wonderfully generous was the response, that, of 

 the large sum of ^2,500 asked, nine-tenths were 

 subscribed in a few weeks. 



By March 9th, 1893, the President was able to 

 report that plans had been prepared and estimates 

 received for the museum extension, and without 

 further delay building operations were commenced 

 on the spare ground already referred to. The plan 

 of building adopted consists of a central hall, 

 thirty-four feet wide by forty-four feet long, with a 

 gallery running around it. It is entirely lighted 

 from the roof, which is lofty and arched, and 

 supported on iron columns. In connection with 

 the museum are work-rooms, herbarium-room, etc. 



The new museum building is to be exclusively 

 devoted to the collections of Perthshire Natural 

 History, while in the old building the Index 



Collection will be arranged. The proposed 

 arrangement of the Perthshire Collections is as 

 follows : vertebrata on the ground floor, the 

 mammals being in tall cases in the centre, while 

 the birds, fishes, reptiles, and amphibians will 

 occupy the wall - cases around the sides In 

 addition to these, an interesting collection of 

 Perthshire birds' -nests and eggs will be displayed 

 in table-cases round the area. As many of these 

 will be mounted with their natural surroundings, 

 they will undoubtedly prove a most attractive 

 feature of the museum. 



The gallery will be devoted to the invertebrata, 

 the botany and the geology of Perthshire, the land 

 and fresh-water shells and the fossils being dis- 

 played in desk-cases round the gallery front, and 

 the other collections in wall-cases. For the geology 

 and the entomology, special cases have been 

 designed, which present some novel features, and 

 which are thought to be specially adapted for the 

 display of small specimens. They are wall-cases, 

 with glass fronts, sloping at a high angle, and with 

 false backs to correspond. The lower part of the 

 case is in the form of a cabinet, for the storage of 

 reference collections, while the higher part is for 

 the display of diagrams and photographs, the 

 middle portion only being for the display of speci- 

 mens. By this arrangement the specimens will be 

 neither too high nor too low to be conveniently 

 examined. The botanical collections will include 

 a series of specimens of the native timbers of Perth- 

 shire, illustrated by photographs of the trees, both 

 in summer and winter conditions, and also by dried 

 specimens of the leaves, flowers, etc. An instruc- 

 tive geological feature of the museum is a series 

 of large diagrams painted in oil-colours, round the 

 walls, illustrative of the geology of the county. 

 These have been most carefully designed by the 

 President, from the Geological Survey maps. They 

 are correctly drawn to vertical and horizontal 

 scales, the prominent topographical details being 

 also indicated. There is also shown, at a lower 

 elevation on the wall, a colour-key and explanation 

 of the respective geological signs. As these dia- 

 grams are painted in the bright and harmonious 

 colours selected by the Geological Survey, the effect 

 on the walls is highly artistic, besides being of great 

 educational value. 



The museum has been furnished throughout in 

 the most substantial and complete manner possible, 

 the cases being all of polished mahogany and plate- 

 glass, the latter being in whole sheets from top to 

 bottom of the cases. The total estimated cost is 

 now between three and four thousand pounds, and 

 the Council hope to be able to meet the whole of 

 this heavy outlay before the building is ready to 

 be opened to the public, which it is expected will 

 be early next winter. The Council have recently 

 appointed a thoroughly competent scientific curator 



