204 
PROCEEDINGS OF THE PERTHSHIRE SOCIETY OF NATURAL SCIENCE. 
the gallery would be devoted to the Perthshire Collection. 
In the hall could be placed the Perthshire birds and birds’ 
nests. To these the wall cases would be allotted, giving a 
perpendicular superficies of 812 square feet, in comparison 
with the 500 square feet of the present cases. This would 
probably be an ample allowance (though not too much) for 
all time coming. The central floor space of the hall would 
be occupied by table-cases, cabinets, and narrow upright 
cases for the collection of the Perthshire invertebrate 
animals. 
The gallery would be surrounded by wall-cases (of 812 
square feet perpendicular superficies) in which the Perth¬ 
shire Geological Collection could be displayed, as well as 
those botanical specimens which are too bulky, or other¬ 
wise not suited, for the herbarium. The herbarium itself 
could be kept in the Curator’s room, where there would be 
much greater facilities for examining and studying the 
specimens. 
Finally, the present Museum Hall having had the Index 
and Ornithological Collections removed from it, would 
afford the much-needed space for the Perthshire mam¬ 
mals and fishes. (Regarding the latter a word of explana¬ 
tion is required. The fishes of Perthshire proper are not 
so numerous in species as to require much space, but as 
the small part of the River Tay that is not in Perthshire 
ought certainly, from a scientific point of view, to be 
taken along with Perthshire proper, and as this has been 
done with regard to the birds, it seems but right to do the 
same with the fishes, &c. It is perhaps a little difficult to 
determine where—in the faunistic sense—the Firth should 
end, but after consideration it seems advisable to include 
as much of the sea as lies within the Bell Rock. With 
this extension of our district the number of species of fish 
that have to be represented in the collection is much in¬ 
creased.) To sum up. The suggested additions to the 
Museum space (not including the extended laboratory, 
Curator’s room, &c.) would give an area of 2614 square 
feet, which, added to the present area, would make a total 
of 3846 square feet. Of wall cases the additional perpen¬ 
dicular superficies would be 2408 square feet, or, with the 
present, 3720 square feet. 
We now come to the very important matter of the ex¬ 
pense of these suggested improvements. Of these it is 
estimated that the building would cost £850. It is difficult 
to estimate the cost of all the cases, but taking the wall 
cises, which would form by far the greater part of what 
is required, and calculating the expense of them at the 
same rate as those we have already, the outlay would be 
about £500, which sum, however, would exceed what is 
necessary, as expense might be saved in several ways. 
Roughly estimating the expenses of the other cases, it is 
probable that altogether a sum of £1500 would be sufficient, 
not only for building, but for furnishing purposes. At the 
same time it is not necessary (though perhaps desirable) 
that the cases should all be put up at once. If we had 
enough money (say £1000) to erect the additions and 
furnish the ball on the first floor, it would be a great gain 
to the Museum, and the other parts of it could be left more 
or less unfinished and unprovided with cases till more 
money was obtained. At the same time the additional 
apartments would not be useless on such occasions as eon- 
versaziones or other large meetings. 
However, as matters are at present, it seems unnecessary 
to say much more on this point. My object has been to 
show what extensions are desirable, if not absolutely ne¬ 
cessary. The Society now knows what its museum require¬ 
ments are, and what funds must be provided to carry them 
out, and, having ascertained so much, the first step has 
been taken. 
Before finishing it seems expedient to point out that, 
though the space in the Museum for the exhibition of 
specimens is becoming restricted, we do not, on that 
account, wish donations to cease. We shall continue to 
place in the cases all the examples for which room can be 
found; and as for the others we have accommodation for 
keeping, though not for exhibiting, them, till the desired 
extensions are made. It must not therefore be thought 
that more specimens are not required in the meantime. 
The very contrary is the case, and we will always be glad 
to receive donations either to the Perthshire or to the 
Index Collections. The Perthshire Collection especially 
— though wonderfully extensive considering the short 
period during which it has been made—is in need of many 
specimens, before it can be termed anything like complete. 
We wish specimens not only of those species which are as 
yet unrepresented in the Museum, but additional examples 
of species that we have already, in illustration of the 
changes produced by age or season, as well as to show the 
distribution throughout the district. In connection with 
the latter point it may be mentioned that it is in con¬ 
templation to eventually publish catalogues of the various 
groups of Perthshire animals, founded upon the specimens 
we have in the Museum. I call them catalogues, but in 
reality we hope that they will be much more than mere 
lists, and be in fact exhaustive treatises on the fauna of 
the county. To accomplish this, however, we must have 
trustworthy information about the distribution and local 
variation of the different species, and the best way to get 
this information is by procuring specimens from every part 
of the district. 
