PERTHSHIRE 
NATURAL 
SOCIETY OF 
SCIENCE. 
A MEETING of this Society was held in the Glovers’ 
Hall on Friday, the 3d September, 1869—the senior 
Vice-President in the chair. The attendance was 
large, and besides other business done four members 
were proposed for election, and arrangements made 
for a series of papers during the winter bearing en¬ 
tirely on the natural history of the county. Mr 
Sadler of Edinburgh, one of the members, gave a 
lecture on the fibres of plants used in commerce. He 
pointed out the familiar products of the flax and 
hemp plants, as well as the less known fibres of the 
aloe, yucca, &c. He also referred to the tissue of the 
common nettle, which he illustrated by a piece of 
very elegant lace fabricated from it. Numerous 
samples of the various textile products spoken of were 
shown in the form of raw fibre, rope, lace, and hand¬ 
kerchiefs. and he also showed a number of bundles 
of tow from Calabar, the plants producing which, and 
the value of the material itself, were not yet well 
known. Mr Sadler’s address was also illustrated 
with diagrams. A vote of thanks was awarded to 
him by the meeting. The following communication, 
which was illustrated with specimens of the species 
referred to, was read from the President, Dr Buchanan 
White, at present absent in Im^erness-shire, entitled 
“The Hawk-Moths of Perthshire.” He wrote as 
follows :— 
Butterflies and moths (or in science Lepidoptera) are 
naturally divided into two great groups—the butterflies 
with their ** clubbed antennae ” and diurnal habits, 
forming one group; and the moths, with antennae of 
various forms (never, however, clubbed) and generally 
