PROCEEDINGS OP THE PERTHSHIRE SOCIETY OP NATURAL SCIENCE, 
163 
currents which each portion makes vary according to the 
velocity at which the pinion is driven. It is the perfection 
of the pinion in its application upon the air which has so 
far been the stumbling-block that has baffled imitation. 
Most of the attempts at flight which have hitherto been 
made have been in utter ignorance of, and therefore with¬ 
out any regard to, the principles adopted by Nature, 
and we can only hope that when these principles are 
more considered and better understood, the solution of this 
question of artificial flight may be obtained. The subject 
we have had in hand requires a good deal of consideration 
fully to appreciate, and I think one of the reasons of its 
apparent difficulty lies in the fact that we are all more or 
less liable to approach it with certain preconceived ideas, 
one of the most prevalent being that the effective stroke 
is delivered in a backward direction, whereas all wing- 
movements are characterised by the down or effective 
stroke being given in a forward direction. 
In conclusion, though I cannot expect to have made 
this subject as interesting to you as I have myself found 
its consideration to be, nor dare I flatter myself that I 
have made it as explicit as might be desired, yet I do 
venture to hope that the few remarks I have made may 
prompt some to give a little more attention to this most 
interesting though complex subject, the complexity of 
which the wise King of Israel in his day fully realised 
when he said it was one of the things he knew not. 
May 1st, 1884. 
Dr F. Buchanan White, F.L.S., President, in the Chair. 
NEW MEMBERS. 
The following were elected:—Mr Robert Hunt Meldrum, 
Cherrybank, and Mr James Kennedy, Ballinluig. 
DONATIONS. 
The following were intimated :— 
Index Collection. From Mr Alex. Wynd, Trinidad— 
scorpion and other specimens; Dr Gowans, Perth Infirmary 
—two sections of the skin of the Tay whale. 
Perthshire Collection. From Mr Herd, Scoonieburn—red 
deer’s horn fromblueclay, Strathearn; SirR. Menzies, Bart., 
Rannoch Lodge—long-tailed tit’s nest and six eggs, two 
lizards, four crow’s and four plover’s eggs, one long-eared 
owl and eggs, and eggs of tawny owl; Mr Laidlaw, Castle 
Menzies—one golden plover, two hooded crows, two car: ion 
crows, a teal drake, and a sparrow hawk; Mr M’Donald, 
Rannoch Lodge—four eggs of the common heron, a male 
goosander,a coot, and a field vole; Mr Herd, Scoonieburn— 
two field mice; Col. Ogilvy, Rannagulzion—hooded crow; 
Captain D. M. Smythe, Methven Castle—two gull’s nests 
and four eggs; Colonel Drummond Hay of Seggieden— 
wild duck’s nest and eggs, starling’s nest and eggs, and 
one newt; Mr J. M‘Lean, Almondbank—a rat; and Mr 
James Coates, Pitcullen—a linnet. 
EXHIBITS. 
Dr Buchanan White exhibited catkins of a species of 
willow / Salix fragilis J showing an unusual formation. 
In the willows the flowers with stamens occur on one 
plant, and those with pistils on another, but in the speci¬ 
mens in question both stamens and pistils occurred in the 
same catkin. The pistils were few in number, and were 
chiefly to be found towards the base of the catkin. This 
abnormality, though apparently not frequent, is not al¬ 
together unknown, at least in some other species of the 
genus. Plants of Salix pentandra which exhibited the 
phenomenon were described as a distinct species — S. 
hermaphrodita L. ; and though its occurrence in S. 
fragilis is not mentioned by any of the authors consulted, 
yet as Grenier and Godron say in the Flore de France that 
it has been found in other species than S. pentandra, it 
seems probable that it may have been noticed in S. fragilis 
before. Another peculiarity of some of the catkins of the 
tree from which these were taken (which grows in the 
Woody Island) is that they show a tendency to bifurca¬ 
tion. 
The following paper was read :— 
“ Fruit Culture, and some of the Hindrances to its more 
General Cultivation .” By Dr Robertson, Errol. 
Since I last had the pleasure of addressing you on the 
cultivation of fruit, a great interest has been aroused in 
the subject, and a great impetus given to its advancement, 
by the Apple Congress, held in October last, in the Royal 
Horticultural Gardens, Chiswick, near London. It was 
a truly grand affair, nothing of the kind having been held 
before, and far exceeded the most sanguine anticipations 
of its promoters. Such an exhibition was much required, 
as our pomological nomenclature was very deficient and 
incorrect, every district having local names of its own, and 
