132 
PROCEEDINGS OF THE PERTHSHIRE SOCIETY OF NATURAL SCIENCE, 
downwards. The colour is said by Dr Mayr to be brown- 
yellow, probably at a later stage than that recorded by Mr 
Cameron. On section there is found to be an outer wall 
of leathery texture, surrounding a cavity, in which a 
yellow globular inner gall lies attached at one point to the 
outer gall, or else entirely free from it. The larva lives in 
the inner gall. The galls are surrounded at the base by 
the bud-scales, from which they project more than is usual 
in bud-galls; but, like the others, they fall to the ground 
in the end of autumn. They are said to be formed chiefly 
on the highest twigs of tall oaks. The insects produced 
are asexual. A few emerge in spring, but most are said 
not to appear until the next autumn. 
Andricus curvator Hart. I have already mentioned 
this species among the makers of bud-galls, under A. 
inflator, whose galls are sometimes simulated by it; but 
have deferred fuller consideration of its gall, as it is really 
almost entirely confined to the leaves, though sometimes 
so near the base of the petiole as actually to include a 
part of the twig, and thus to seem like a twig-gall. The 
galls are among the most abundant and best known of our 
native species. They appear as irregularly-rounded or 
slightly-lobed masses, -j-inch or more in diameter, and 
often fused together to form larger and still more irregu¬ 
lar bodies. They are situated usually on the leafstalk, 
or on the midrib or veins of the leaf, projecting on both 
surfaces, but frequently the leaf, if attacked in the bud, 
remains abortive, and the blade is represented only by 
narrow lobes here and there along the side of the gall. 
In all cases the galls are the cause of marked de¬ 
formity of the part affected. The surface is yellow¬ 
ish-green, smooth, and naked. The wall is rather 
hard and woody, and encloses a large space, in which 
lies an inner gall, about the size and form of whin seed, 
either attached to the outer gall at one point, or free in 
the central cavity. The wall of the inner gall is exceed¬ 
ingly thin (papery), and is brown. When two or more 
galls are fused together externally the inner galls remain 
distinct, and show the actual number of galls represented 
in the common mass. The galls begin to appear as soon 
as the young leaves burst from the bud. They are fully 
developed by the beginning of June, and the insects (male 
and female) emerge in July, in this part of the country. 
20th, 21st, and 22nd December, 1883. 
CONVERSAZIONE 
on the Occasion of the Opening of the Museum to 
the Public. 
Eor this occasion the Society’s Lecture Hall, Library, 
and Museum were put en suite with the New Public Hall 
and Opera-House and its various rooms, and with the hall 
and rooms of the Working Boys’ and Girls’ Religious 
Society. At seven o’clock on Thursday evening a large 
audience assembled in the Public Hall, when James Geikie, 
Esq., LL.D., F.R.S., Professor of Geology in the Univer¬ 
sity of Edinburgh, and late President of the Society, 
presided, and was accompanied to the platform by the 
members of Council. 
Professor Geikie said—Ladies and gentlemen, when my 
good friends and former colleagues of the Perthshire 
Society of Natural Science invited me to open the pro¬ 
ceedings on this interesting occasion with a few words, I 
could not but feel highly honoured. It is with sincere 
pleasure and much satisfaction that I lcok back on the 
time I spent among them—joining in their work—sharing 
in their anxieties and troubles—helping as best I could 
in the good tight to attain the object of their desires 
—and now, those desires having been fully gratified 
by the accomplishment of the scheme which the late Sir 
Thomas Moncreiife had so much at heart—I gladly come 
to participate in the final triumph. I may confess now 
—what I never would admit while I was among you 
—that the scheme proposed by Sir Thomas did at first 
seem to me somewhat Utopian. And when I re¬ 
flected that in several larger and more opulent centres, 
similar well-intentioned schemes had fallen through for 
want of encouragement, I feared that success was hardly 
to be expected in such a quiet easy-going place as Perth. 
By-and-bye, however, when I came to realise the fer¬ 
vour and enthusiasm with which all the members of 
this Society were embued, I began to hope that some¬ 
thing tangible might result from their efforts. They 
were ambitiously bidding for a gown of gold, and they 
might at least succeed in getting a sleeve of it. Little 
did I think that they would eventually obtain the com¬ 
plete garment! And heartily do I now congratulate them, 
and this city and county, on the success which has crtiwned 
their labours. The Museum which is opened to-night, is 
a credit to all concerned, and may well incite the citizens of 
