Make sure that the perl script itself is set to be executable. You can do this with a command like this:
chmod +x /Users/Wes/Desktop/Perl_dir/phylo.pl
And then make sure the first line of the script has an appropriate "hash-bang" line to invoke perl, something like:
#!/usr/bin/perl -w
With both of those in place, I think your scripts should start working. (Note: The -w
isn't strictly necessary, and may cause warnings in your script. I do suggest it, though, for developing new perl code, since it encourages a certain brand of perl hygiene.)