89 
MEETING ON 5th MAY, 1870. 
'The monthly meeting was held in the Glovers’ 
Hall on the evening of Thursday last, the 5th inst. — 
Dr Buchanan White in the chair. One corresponding 
and four ordinary members were elected, and four 
gentlemen nominated for election. It was agreed to 
add several new books to the library. It was inti- 
mated that the morning botanical class, conducted 
by the President, had been well attended ; and it 
was proposed to have evening excursions in connec¬ 
tion therewith, Mr Marshall exhibited a stuffed 
specimen of a male goosander (Mergus Castor), shot 
at Stormontfield in March last. The President 
noticed the capture of a specimen of the rare moth 
Dasypolia Templi, by Mr Cameron, Balquhidder, 
corresponding member of the Society, and remarked 
that this was only the second Scottish specimen that 
he knew of—the first having been taken a few years 
ago by himself, near Perth. The President exhibited 
a map shewing the divisions of the county adopted 
by the Society for the purpose of ascertaining the 
distribution of the indigenous animals and plants ; 
and he read the following paper on 
The Best Manner of Dividing Perthshire 
INTO Districts : — 
To ascertain, in as perfect a manner as possible , 
the distribution throughout the county, of the 
animals and plants indigenous to Perthshire, it is 
expedient to divide the county into certain districts, 
and to find out the productions of each of these. 
The county may be divided in two ways : — 
1st, Artificially. 
2d, Naturally. 
The first is by the parishes ; but this method is, for 
various reasons, unsuitable for our purpose : we must 
therefore adopt a natural method of division. In a 
county made up, as Perthshire is, of Lowlands and 
Highlands, the best mode of di>dsion probably would 
be into Littoral, Lowland, Subalpine, and Alpine 
districts. But the difficulty of defining, in a suffi* 
eiently workable manner, the boundaries of each 
division, and showing where one ends and another 
