CXXV111 PROCEEDINGS—PERTHSHIRE SOCIETY OF NATURAL SCIENCE. 
house, to be hung in our Library alongside of the one taken on the 
previous occasion. 
No. 4, June 20.—To Birnam. Leader, Mr. Mackintosh, Inver; 
present, 18. This was another afternoon excursion, and although 
the time was limited some good work was done. The locality has 
special interest for us, as the botany, entomology, and geology were 
worked up by two of our former Presidents,—the late Dr. Buchanan 
White and Professor Geikie,—each of whom made it his home for 
some time. For the same reason its scenery is classic to those who 
have watched the late Sir John Millais at work among its grey and 
purple hills and its rich woodlands. Apart from these associations, 
however, the ground presents endless subjects for study by the 
naturalist, and not least by the geologist. Standing on Birnam Hill 
one is on the confines of two great chapters in the earth’s history, 
and on either hand he can see plainly stretched out the memorials 
of these chapters. To the north-west are the rugged and sharply-cut 
outlines of the Grampians, with their covering of heather and pine, 
and showing that the rocks beneath are hard, crystalline, and gnarled. 
To the south-east, on the other hand, is stretched out the undulating 
plain of Strathmore, covered with fields of corn and pasture, and 
telling of soft and friable rocks, which have yielded to the wear and 
tear of ages. While noting these general features in the landscape, 
however, our attention was more particularly devoted to the slate 
quarries on the side of the hill, where the planes of cleavage and of 
stratification could be distinctly traced, inclined to each other at a 
considerable angle. The numerous veins of quartz, crystals of 
copper and iron pyrites, and other minerals mingled with the slate, 
were also examined. Meanwhile the entomologists were busily 
occupied with their own pursuits, and Mr. T. M. M‘Gregor reports as 
follows regarding the results of their labours :—“The entomologists 
were kept busy all the way, collecting both by the hand-net and by 
beating the branches of the young oaks over inverted umbrellas, lent 
by obliging members, to receive the heterogeneous collection of 
insects which fell from the leaves and twigs. In this way many very 
interesting creatures were got, representing all stages of insect 
development, and embracing many different orders. Amongst these 
may be mentioned—Hemiptera (Bugs): Tropicoris rufipes, L. (a bug 
which can inflict a painful probe with its powerful beak), in all 
stages: Calocoris striatellus , Fab., a beautiful heteropterous bug; 
Phytocoris populi , L., in its larval stage; and various species of 
Psallus; while Mcicropsis lanio , L., and Aphrophora spumaria (the 
frog-spittal insect), both homopterous bugs, were also noticed in 
their larval stages. The larva, cocoon, and perfect insect of a beetle 
native to the common Figwort (Scrophularia nodosa) were pointed out. 
Three species of ants were noticed, viz., Lasius flavus , De Geer; 
Myrmica rubra (race, ruginodis , Nyl); and Formica fnsca , L., the 
latter being beaten in quantities from the trees, the presence of 
aphides and the saccharine fluid on the young shoots of the oak 
accounting for these. A few specimens of the lace-wing, a neuropter- 
ous fly, were also obtained. Insect life was varied and abundant.” 
