PROCEEDINGS—PERTHSHIRE SOCIETY - OF NATURAL SCIENCE. xli 
WINTER SESSION, 1894-95. 
8th November, 1894. 
Mr. Henry Coates, F.R.S.E., President, in the Chair. 
The following donations were intimated 
Museum—Perthshire Collection. —Swallow’s Nest and Eggs—from 
Mr. Herd, Scoonieburn. Kingfisher’s Nest—from Mr. Wylie, George 
Street. Corn Bunting’s Nest—from Mr. Robert Gloag, Perth. 
Heron (young bird)—from Mr. J. Young, Janitor. Adder—from 
Mr. T. M. M‘Gregor. Index Collection. —Debris from Sea-Shore— 
from Dr. Dewar, Arbroath. Male Eider Duck—from Mr. Albert 
Pullar. 
Library. —“Salient Points in the Science of the Earth,” by Sir 
J. W. Dawson—from Mr. James Reid, Blairgowrie. 
The President, as Delegate of the Society to the British Associa¬ 
tion, gave his report. 
The President then delivered the following Opening Address:— 
In my Presidential Address, in March last, I had occasion to call 
attention to the remarkable meteorological conditions which had 
been experienced within the preceding twelve months. I pointed 
out that that period had presented conditions of wind-velocity, valley 
flooding, and frost intensity, each of which had been nearly, if not 
quite, the most excessive experienced within the present generation ; 
and I indicated some of the natural results that might be expected 
to follow. Subsequent events have shown that the record of eccen¬ 
tricity had not even then come to a close. During the past summer 
and autumn we have had such a lengthened spell of drought that 
the Tay and its tributaries have been reduced to almost phenomenally 
small proportions. The following comparison of the rain-fall for this 
period with that for the same period in former years will show how 
striking has been the deviation from normal conditions :— 
For the period of almost nine weeks, from 20th August to 20th 
October, 1894, the total rain-fall amounted to only ’51 of an inch. 
During the same period of 1893 it amounted to 5’15 inches, or ten 
times the amount; and in 1892 to 7^5 inches, or fifteen times the 
amount. Comparing the rain-fall for the month of September alone 
with that of the two previous years we find the totals are as follows : — 
September, 1892, ... ... 2'23 inches. 
September, 1893, ... ... 2^46 ,, 
September, 1894, ... ... ’12 ,, 
Being frequently in the Highland reaches of the Tay Valley 
during the past summer, I could not help being struck with the 
* For these figures I am again indebted to the kindness of Mr. P. W. Fairgrieve, 
Dunkeld. 
