8 PROCEEDINGS OF THE 



those of the Cockle and Mussel; the bones of marine birds and 

 fishes with those of land animals, and seaweeds along with terrestrial 

 plants), but in the deeper strata the remains are chiefly marine, and, 

 from the incohering nature of the. deposits, are by no means well 

 preserved." 



It is on such sandy tracts, above high-water mark, that I have 

 found numerous examples' of the kitchen-midden, so numerous, 

 indeed, that 1 did not attempt to catalogue them. In county 

 Donegal they are to be seen abundantly on the Fannet shore, which 

 stretches from the mouth of Lough Swilly to the entrance of Mul- 

 roy Bay, and on the sandy strands of Mulroy Bay itself. 



In general appearance they are very similar. About 10 to 20 

 feet above high-water mark, a rounded eminence is seen rising 6 or 

 7 feet above the dry sand. On the summit you find an accumula- 

 tion of rough unhewn stones of the district, and all about the mound 

 is white with bleached shells and bones, the remains of many a frugal 

 meal. The stones are evidently the ruins of the rude huts built on 

 the spot, but in no single case could I find a trace of their plan, 

 whether circular, square, or oblong. They must have been small, 

 however, for they occupy a limited space on the mound, often not 

 more than about 20 feet square altogether. There occasionally occur 

 long slabs of stone, which seemingly served for door lintels, but no 

 fragments of wood have been seen. The shells are all of edible 

 kinds. The first in order of quantity is the Cockle, Cardium edule; 

 and next follow successively the Limpet, Patella vulgata; the 

 Periwinkle, Littorina Mttoralis; the Oyster, Ostrea edulis; 'and the 

 Mussel, Mijtilus edulis; the last being very rare. There are also, 

 but equally rare with the last, a few odd valves here and there of 

 Cardium ecliiniatum, Another notable character of the general 

 characteristics of the Donegal Shell Mounds is that the bones of 

 animals are very abundant, and form perhaps one-tenth of the whole 

 bulk of organic remains, as compared with the shells. These bones 

 consist of ribs and teeth of the cow and sheep, and some long bones 

 of the deer; all the larger bones being split longitudinally for the 

 marrow. At Dundoan, Rossgull, I found a boar's tusk. 



On none of the bones did I find any trace of carving or ornamen- 

 tation, such as I described in my paper on a Shell Mound in South 

 Uist.* In almost all the heaps a few fragments of burnt bones were 



* Proceedings, vol. ii., p. 24. 



