Transactions. '21 



volumes, with annotations by Theodore Haak, published in 

 London in 1657, as a donation from Mr John Kerr. 



Exhibits. — Mr J. Rutherford exhibited a number of micro- 

 scopic slides, cliiefly anotomical. Mr Coupland exhibited four 

 pieces of rock brouglit to the surface from the depth of 346 feet, 

 during the boring of the artesian well at the Troqueer INIills. 

 The rock is a breccia, and is of the same formation as that 

 exposed at the railway cutting near Goldielea, and was very 

 difficult to pierce. 



Communications. 



I. 7Vte Scandi^iavian Cttstoms and Habits in Scotland. 



By Mr J. Gibbon H. Starke, V.P. 



In this paper the author referred to some of the customs and 

 liabits of the old Scandinavian warriors, few of which are now 

 extant. He remarked that the festivities attending our Christmas 

 resemble those of the Scandinavians, when, at Yule-tide, the liuge 

 logs of wood were burnt in honour of the gods Odin or Tlior. 

 The mode of interment — the ship-shaped barrows discovered in 

 this country resemble those found in Scandinavia. Mr Starke 

 also referred to the hanging of the mistletoe in the dwelling- 

 houses, the sword dance, the haaf fishing, and the drinking bouts, 

 which have their prototypes still in that country. 



II. Clip and Ring Markings near Kirkcudbright. 

 By Mr J. M'Kie, R.K 



In this paper Mr M'Kie described the discovery by a member 

 of the Kirkcudbright Naturalists' Society in April, 1886, of a 

 large stone adjacent to the Dunrod Churchyard, with several cup 

 and ring markings on its surface. In September Mr M'Kie 

 visited this stone, and by scraping away the earth from it he 

 found the traces of seventeen different markings, which he now 

 described, and also some other markings on tlie adjacent rocks. 



The readers are referred to a paper on this subject read by Mr 

 Coles at the April meeting, as it also describes tliese markings 

 and many others discovered after Mr M'Kie's paper was read. 



