1884-85.] Edinburgh Naturalists' Field Club. 233 



Liogairne, and of the Firdomnan in Erinn. But, however, the de- 

 scendants of the Firbolg are the most numerous of all three. This 

 is taken from an old book." 1 



This, then, must surely be that Iberian race of small dark men 

 of whom Professor Huxley ^ and Dr Bedoe ^ write, who have left 

 some slight traces of their existence on the West of Scotland in the 

 name of the island of Isla, or Ih, as it was anciently spelt ; * also 

 in two of their skeletons, and some other remains found in a cave 

 in the Old Red Sandstone near Oban during 1869 by Mr Mackay, 

 and described by Professor Turner.^ But may we not ask. Where 

 are there traces of their dwellings ? or, if we find none, had they 

 any ? and the only answer we can give is, that no such traces of 

 their habitation in the West of Scotland have been left, except- 

 ing, perhaps, the small ruined fortification on St Kilda, named 

 after them Dunfhirbolg." It is likely, from its remoteness, to have 

 been the last stronghold of the race before its individuality was 

 blotted out by absorption into the succeeding immigrations of other 

 tribes. But though blended with that of the later immigrations, 

 the blood of the Firbolg seems to have been so strong that it has 

 more or less permeated the present natives of the Western Isles, 

 and has left its traces in the small dark peoj)le that are so frequently 

 met with in these localities. However, let us hope there has been 

 eliminated from them all those questionable qualities mentioned by 

 M'Firbis, and that they have been replaced by virtues even greater 

 than were their faults. This may have been the race who dwelt 

 upon the shell-mound, Caisteal-nan-Gillean, Oronsay ; and their 

 rude houses, if they had any, made of wood or wattles, would soon 

 disappear, their site being only marked by the accumulation of the 

 remains we have referred to. If this tribe formed the deposits, 

 then they probably belong to a period not later than the Christian 

 era, and possibly long before it. 



At this meeting Mr A, B. Herbert, President, read a short note 

 on the Hornet [Vespa ci^ahro), which was illustrated by specimens. 



^ M'Firbis's " Book of Genealogies," in O'Cuny's 'Lectures on MS. Ma- 

 terials,' p. 223. 



2 ' Critiques and Addresses,' pp. 134, 167. 



^ Dr Bedoe's Essay, ' Anthropological Society's Memoirs,' vol. iii. pp. 384- 

 573. 



* Skene's 'Celtic Scotland,' vol. i. p. 216. 



5 ' British Association Report,' 1871, p. 160. 



^ Skene's 'Celtic Scotland,' vol. i. p. 184, note 31. 



