I 



Transactions. 51 



portion which is different from any others known amongst our 

 Kirkcudbrightshire petroglyphs. I refer to the one marked B in 

 the plate. The prolongation of the grooves of this cutting has 

 evidently been severed or worn away towards the middle of the 

 stone; there can be little doubt that these two grooves formed part 

 of the design on the upper portion. Indeed, it is quite probable tli^t 

 the general design was carried on beyond B, and down what was, 

 no doubt, the longer surface of the slab. The numerous incom- 

 plete circles and semi-circles are also noticeable. Close to the 

 standing stones of the " Druidical " Circle at High Auchenlarie, 

 on the nearest surface of solid rock, I discovered cup and ring 

 sculptures, containing 8 perfect cups varying from 1^^ to 2 inches 

 wide, and two groups of rings, the largest being 5 inches wide. 

 There are also straiglit and curved grooves, the lower and turf- 

 hidden portion seeming to bear proofs of having only begun to be 

 picked out. It may be worth while noting that in the year 1882 

 the total number of cup or ring marked stones described was in 

 Great Britain 348, of which 128 are sepulchral ; while in France, 

 Switzerland, and Scandinavia together tliere was a total of only 

 95, of which 21 are sepulchral. The stones are or were most 

 numerous in Northumberland, wliich had 18 localities— in York- 

 shire 8, Cumberland and Isle of Man each with four, Derbyshire 

 3, and one each in Westmoreland, Lancashire, Stafford, Dorset, 

 and Cornwall. (Pro. Soc. Antiq., Scot., 1881-82.) Counting 

 each separate rock surface as a "locality," th^ total for the 

 Stewartry of Kirkcudbright will be somewhere between 35 and 

 40. Hitherto, the Valley of the Nairn has been distinguished 

 by its richness in these ancient .sculptu rings, but from day to day 

 so many new localities are being discovered and described that it 

 will be hard if we in Kirkcudbright may not soon vie with any 

 other county in adding important facts to the materials already 

 accumulated— which may help us to read this riddle of the rocks 

 — ftt once so mysterious, so universal, ami so human.* 



Note. — The cups and i-ings shown at the foot of PI. VII. form 

 part— and a very small part — of a most interesting discovery 

 made during this autumn (1887) by Mr Hornel, who has made 

 several excellent casts of this recent " find," which can be seen 

 in the Museum at Kirkcudbright. A surface of solid rock, some 



At some future date I may discuss some of the thousand and one theories 

 advocated m sohition of the origin and meaning of tlic petroglyphs At 

 present I see no better course than to collect facts and arrange material 



