158 
PROCEEDINGS OF THE PERTHSHIRE SOCIETY OF NATURAL SCIENCE. 
The following were nominated:—Mr James Kennedy, 
schoolmaster, Ballinluig ; and Mr Robert H. Meldrum, 
Cherrybank. 
DONATIONS. 
The following were announced :—For Index Collection — 
From Mr James Stewart, specimen of the vertebra of a 
bird, showing its structure, and a dissected toad; from 
Mr A. E. Pullar, stem of banana. For Perthshire Collec¬ 
tion —From Colonel Drummond Hay, a number of geolo¬ 
gical specimens, illustrating the nature of a trap dyke going 
through red sandstone; from Mr William Lindsay, fifteen 
specimens of seedlings, from two to four years old, of native 
timber trees of Perthshire; from Mr Thomas Boston, 
Balmuick, Comrie, two specimens of the rough-legged 
buzzard—a decidedly rare Perthshire bird, shot at Comrie; 
from Sir Robert Menzies, Bart., a mute swan and two 
wild rabbits; from Mr James Barlas, two samples of rock 
from Hilton Quarry; from Mr Henderson, Dundee, a lump 
sucker fish and a cuttle fish; from Mr Herd, Scoonieburn, 
two field mice and fungus. 
THE GILCHRIST LECTURES. 
Dr Buchanan White stated that in accordance with a 
resolution passed by the Council he had written to the 
Secretary of the Gilchrist Trust to ascertain if it would 
be possible to have a course of lectures delivered under the 
auspices of the Trust in Perth next winter. As the trustees 
will not meet till June, no definite reply could be received 
till then, but the Secretary did not hold out much promise. 
However, as there was a fund in hand from the lectures that 
had been delivered in Perth under the auspices of the 
Literary and Antiquarian Society and the Perthshire 
Society of Natural Science during the past two winters, 
a proposal was at present under consideration to] have 
another course next winter. 
The following paper was read :— 
“ How an Insect Flies.” By Mr S. T. Ellison. 
The power of flight, or aerial navigation, possessed by 
birds and insects, is certainly the most graceful, as it 
also appears to us to be the most easy mode of motion. 
The most careless and unobserving amongst us, as 
well as the most diligent lover and student of Nature, 
must at various times have been struck with the gyra¬ 
tions of some tiny insect. In the house the blue¬ 
bottle may by its hum have attracted our attention ; 
and if we have ever tried to catch it, we have no doubt 
formed a good opinion as to its power of flight. If the 
common house-fly has not gained our admiration by the 
facility with which it can transport itself from place to 
place, it has often, I venture to say, aroused our wrath by 
the persistency with which it will return to some facial 
spot or elevation from which it has repeatedly been driven. 
Outside, we have noticed some butterfly, as, with uncer¬ 
tain and wavering flight, it visits the cabbages in our gar¬ 
dens ; and the busy bee may have given us a lesson in 
diligence as he flits buzzing from flower to flower. Or 
perchance, in our rambles, we have come across that most 
majestic of insect flyers, the dragon fly, as, like a racehorse, 
he has rushed past us, or like a swift, in his sweeping 
flight, he has wheeled round us, and have been compelled 
to stand and watch his graceful evolutions. We must, I 
say, have observed all these and many other of the com¬ 
mon occurrences of everyday summer life, but have we ever 
stayed to enquire how this wonderful power is attained ? 
In considering flight this evening, I shall have to limit 
myself to this power as possessed by insects, because 
I could not attempt in so short a time as I dare venture 
on your patience, to consider the many contrivances and 
arrangements which we find in the wings and construction 
of birds, and which it would have taken the whole of our 
time adequately to discuss ; but in enquiring how an in¬ 
sect flies, we shall, I hope, gain a knowledge of flight in 
general, whether it be the flight of an insect, a bat, or a 
bird, for whatever is able to fly must fulfil those general 
laws by which this power becomes possible. 
The subject of flight, I think, becomes very in¬ 
teresting when we consider that it is that kind of 
motion which man has hitherto been unable to 
imitate, though we can readily believe that he has 
from the earliest times longed to do so. Within 
the present century we see what advances man has made 
both in terrestrial locomotion and also in aquatic navigation; 
—the former with its railways in every direction, so that 
a few hours’ travel will take us to the furthest limit of our 
little island, and the latter with its floating towns bound 
for every quarter of theglobe. These are some of the triumphs 
of recent years, by which man on the land has been able to 
outstrip the fleetest and most enduring of the terrestrial 
animals; and on the sea has been enabled, by imitating the 
propelling power of the fish, to navigate his bark regardless 
of the winds upon which he formerly so much depended. 
When, however, we turn our attention to flight, we find that 
man has made little or no progress. That this power will 
someday be attained by man I think we have every reason 
to believe, but the possession of it will only be obtained by 
the knowledge and due observance of those prineiples by 
I which insects and other flying creatures are enabled to ele- 
