PROCEEDINGS—PERTHSHIRE SOCIETY OF NATURAL SCIENCE, clxvii 
Miss Mary Ann Pagan, Rockcliffe, Crieff, and James L. Thomson, 
Sculptor, 64 Princes Street, were elected Ordinary Members. 
THE LATE MR. WILLIAM HERD. 
The President proposed the following resolutions :— 
1. That this meeting desires to record its deep regret at the loss 
which the Society has sustained through the death of Mr. William Herd, 
who was one of the fourteen original members, and who, in addition to 
much valuable work in connection with the Entomology of the county, 
was always a warm supporter of the Society, and did much to encourage 
the study of Natural History amongst the younger members. 
2. That the Secretary be instructed to send a copy of the fore¬ 
going resolution to Mrs. Herd. 
The motion was seconded by the Treasurer, Mr. John Stewart, 
who said—It is with feelings of the deepest regret we have to record 
the death of Mr. William Herd, Scoonieburn, one of the original 
members of our Society, after a brief but severe illness. From boy¬ 
hood, Mr. Herd always took a deep interest in Natural History, but 
his attention was chiefly drawn towards the study of Entomology, to 
which he devoted himself with the greatest assiduity. In his en¬ 
thusiasm in this work, distance and trouble were nothing; he often 
walked long distances in search of a rare insect to some locality 
where he had heard that it was likely to be found. Mr. Herd was no 
drawing-room naturalist, collecting specimens' Orely to arrange them 
in a cabinet to be admired for their beauty or larity; the woods and 
fields were his study, where by patient observation and practical 
acquaintance he wrought out the life-history of the insects he had 
collected. Indeed, it was this practice that enabled him to discover 
the life-history of Eupithecia togata , an insect that had for many 
years puzzled entomologists, as they were unable to find out the 
food-plant of the larva, and many were the jokes made at his expense 
when he stated that the larva fed on the topmost cones of the fir, 
but his statement turned out to be fact, and E. togata , although the 
insect itself is seldom captured, can now be bred in considerable 
quantity from the larvae, which are common. Also, in conjunction 
with the late Sir Thomas Moncreiffe, another keen entomologist, 
he discovered the food-plant of Dasydia obfuscata , which till 
then was unknown. Mr. Herd was also one of the members of the 
Perthshire Alpine Club, founded by the late Dr. Buchanan White, 
and, as it is always the case that where mutual confidence and help 
go together, something good results, so in this instance the united 
labours of Mr. Herd and Dr. White led to the discovery of two 
insects new to Britain, namely, Alphelia argentana and Cra?nbus 
myellus. It is true that Dr. White had found a single specimen of 
C. myellus in Glen Tilt some twenty years before, but now it was dis¬ 
covered by them in considerable numbers, and shown to be a real 
addition to our list of native insects. Outside his proclivities for 
Natural History, Mr. Herd was a kind-hearted, genial companion, ever 
ready to aid any young naturalist in the desire to obtain knowledge 
in that study. His remains are interred in the quaint burying-ground 
