NATURAL HISTORY OF THE BANKS OF THE TAY. 
33 
VI .—The Natural History of the Banks of the Tay. 
(Read 8th December, 1892, and 12th January and 9th February, 1893). 
1 .—PHYSIOGRAPHY. 
By Dr. H. R. Mill, F.R.S.E., F.R.G.S., and James Coates. 
INTRODUCTORY. 
The Tay is the name given to the stream which flows out of the 
loch known as Loch Tay, and afterwards finds its way past the city 
of Perth to the sea. But a question naturally arises at the outset 
whether this may not involve some confusion in nomenclature, and 
it might be interesting to inquire if the stream at Perth should pro¬ 
perly be known by the same name as that which leaves Loch Tay. 
Suppose an individual to be asked to trace the river from its mouth 
backwards to its source, what result would probably be obtained ? 
Starting from Dundee in a westerly direction, he would take a north¬ 
ward bend at Perth, and would again turn towards the north-east after 
passing the mouths of the Almond and the Isla. No doubtful points 
would occur until he reached Logierait, but here he would find him¬ 
self at another junction of streams. One of these branches would 
enter obliquely from the west, while the other branch, of apparently 
equal size, would come towards him in a straight line with the direc¬ 
tion in which he has been proceeding. He would naturally select 
the latter branch as the main stream, and would follow it to its source, 
some forty miles or so farther on. It would, however, be found 
that he had here arrived at the source, not of the Tay, but of the 
Garry, and to have reached the accepted source, he would have 
required to follow at Logierait, not the straight, but the oblique 
branch, until finally he reached the fountainhead on the confines of 
Argyllshire. Such an error would be a pardonable one, because it 
is still by no means certain that the name as fixed by local custom 
and geographers is technically correct, and that it is not really upon 
the River Garry that our city stands. It is true, that if nomenclature 
among rivers be a matter depending upon length, and length alone, 
then the recognised river has the chief claim, its length from source 
to Logierait being 55 miles, as against 40 for the Garry. On the 
other hand, if directness of course be of the first importance, then 
the Garry is not without a claim to carry its name to the ocean. 
For the purpose of the present survey we must accept the river 
as prescribed to us by those who have, with or without authority, 
acted as its sponsors, and we must therefore look upon the streams 
of the Garry, the Tilt, and the Turnmel, however important in their 
combined volume, as forming merely a tributary of the Tay. In strict 
physical reasoning we should consider rather the volume than the 
c 
