THE EXCAVATIONS 23 



drawn to nearly every conceivable scale, so that a com- 

 parison of plans, which might throw much nsefu.1 light 

 on them, is at present out of the question. Even the 

 beautifully executed and very complete plan of Birrens, 

 for example, seems to have a scale of its own. An attempt 

 has been made recently to rectify this. The Society of 

 Antiquaries have recommended the adoption of a uniform 

 scale of 30 feet to the inch. This is the scale on which the 

 results of the recent explorations at Silchester and Caer- 

 went have been plotted, as well as the plans of the forts 

 at Housesteads, Aesica and Gellygaer, and possibly else- 

 where. I have, therefore, chosen this scale for the plan 

 of Melandra, and the Committee have thus taken the first 

 step towards making their small contribution to the 

 '' Corpus of Roman works in Britain," the need for which 

 has been urged by Mr. Garstang,^ and which it is to be 

 hoped the Society referred to will undertake at no distant 

 date. 



Alas ! it is only the skeleton of a plan after all, and 

 when the beautifully complete plans of other forts are 

 compared with it, one wonders whether the plan of 

 Melandra will be recovered before the site is so riddled 

 with trial excavations as to make the task difficult if not 

 impossible. It is true that the absence of stone founda- 

 tions makes the task less easy, but against this should be 

 set the fact that the remains have lain practically undis- 

 turbed, and that the local committee have taken care to 

 preserve them with a substantial enclosure. 



In order to make clear at what point the work was taken 

 up last year, it will be necessary briefly to record what 

 had been already accomplished. It is curious that no 

 reference to this fort has been discovered earlier than 



2. On some features of Eoman Military Defensive Works. Trans. 

 Hist. Soc. Lane, and Chesh., 1901, vol. iii., p. 2. 



