PROCEEDINGS—PERTHSHIRE SOCIETY OF NATURAL SCIENCE. CV 
two consecutive weeks during which no rain fell, namely, those ending 
18th and 25th May. The maximum weekly rainfall of the summer 
■occurred in the week immediately succeeding these, namely, that 
ending 1st Tune, when a total of 2*23 inches was recorded. The 
greatest rainfall within twenty-four hours was i'64 inches, on 10th 
August, as compared with 2^14 inches on 22nd August, 1900. 
As no very excessive heat was experienced during the summer, so 
also there was almost a complete absence of thunder. The only 
thunder-storm of any note which visited Perth was on Saturday, 10th 
August. On that day peals were heard at frequent intervals for 
several hours, but the storm could not be said to be severe. 
Wind storms have also been of rare occurrence, and no high 
velocities have been recorded. On many days throughout the 
summer, indeed, the leaves of the trees were scarcely stirred. If 
wind storms have been conspicuous by their absence, however, one 
rather rare wind phenomenon was witnessed at Pitcullen, namely, a 
distinctly marked whirlwind, which occurred about 3.30 p.m. on 
Tuesday, 18th June. The occurrence took place within the walled 
fruit garden, where a large strawberry bed, some 15 yards square, had 
been laid with straw and covered over with netting. Without a 
moment’s warning, the whole of the straw, together with the netting, 
was lifted bodily into the air to a height of fully one hundred feet, 
■circling with a spiral motion as it rose. It was then carried through 
the air for a distance of about 60 yards, and fell on one of the fields 
belonging to Murray’s Asylum. When found, the whole mass of 
straw and net was twisted up in a spiral coil. This strange occurrence 
was witnessed by three of the gardeners. During the morning there 
was no wind, but at the time of the whirlwind a light breeze had 
sprung up from the north, the sky was free from clouds, and the sun 
was shining brightly. Mr. Leslie has suggested, as an explanation of 
this phenomenon, that the air contained within the walls of the 
garden had become heated by the sun’s rays, and that, when the 
northerly breeze produced a cooler stratum of air above, the warmer 
column below was forced upwards, with the usual spiral motion. 
The whirlwind, however, was by no means the only unusual 
phenomenon which we were privileged to experience during the past 
summer, for, at 1.25 a.m. on Wednesday, 18th September, we were 
visited by a very distinct shock of earthquake. The centre of the 
disturbance seems to have been in the neighbourhood of Inverness, 
but the time at which it was felt here seems to have been almost 
exactly the same as that recorded in the north. The shock was felt 
by a large number of persons in Perth and the neighbourhood, who 
described their experiences in varying terms. One thought at the 
time that it was produced by an exceptionally heavy train, another 
imagined that a traction engine was passing his house, while a third 
thought of burglars beneath his bed. In some cases the doors were 
heard to rattle, while in others a sound like the rushing of wind was 
heard. In every case the predominant sensation appears to have 
been a distinct up and down motion of the bed repeated three or four 
times in rapid succession. 
The only other natural phenomenon to which I shall refer is one 
