Transactions. 209 



length, by 2| inches in breadth and 1 J- inch in thickness, present- 

 ing in the cross section a flattened oval. The shaft-hole is 

 partially perforated from each face, and is at a right angle to the 

 edges, which are rounded instead of sharp. The implement has 

 therefore in all probability been intended for a weapon instead of 

 a tool. 



III. Quern.— k. Quern, consisting of an upper stone 20 

 inches in diameter and a lower stone 21 inches in diameter, both 

 of quartz, found in a peat bog at Canobie, and presented to the 

 National Museum in 1863. The upper stone has three small 

 socket-holes for the handle on its upper face. 



IV. Carved Stone Ball. — A ball of felspathic greenstone, 2 J 

 inches in diameter, ornamented with six projecting circular discs, 

 is stated by Dr (now (Sir) Daniel Wilson to have been " found 



near the line of the old Roman way which 

 runs through Dumfriesshire on its north- 

 ern from Carlisle." While the large per- 

 forated hammers already described are 

 common in the south of Scotland and 

 rare in the northern counties, exactly the 

 reverse is the case with these stone balls. 

 The only other south country specimens 

 known to me is an imperfect one found 

 Fuj. l.-Curr / - ,„;. Ball jjj 1S86 on the farm of Stelloch, Glasser- 

 found t7i Dum/rieisshire. . -t-,-r. , ,. , ^ i , ,i 



ton, Wigtownshire, and presented to the 



National Museum by Sir Herbert Maxwell, and a fine one of white 

 quartz, 3 inches in diameter, with six projecting discs, found in 

 Cree Moss, Wigtownshire, and now in the Thornhill Museum. In 

 the north-eastern counties, especially in Aberdeenshire, they are 

 found in considerable numbers. Only one specimen is known to 

 me to have been found outside Scotland, namely, the one in the 

 British INIuseum, which is said to have been found near Ballymena, 

 County Antrim, in 1850. In all probability this specimen may 

 really be a Scotch one carried over, lost and afterwards found in 

 the place mentioned. The Dumfriesshire specimen is shown in 

 fig. 1, and has also been figured elsewhere.* 



* Catalogue of the Museum, 1876, p. .39 ; Wilson's Prehistoric Annals of 

 Scotland, Vol. I., p. 195 ; Evans' Ancient Stone Imphmmta, p. 376 ; Proceed- 

 inrjs of the Society of Antiqiiariaiis of Scotland, Vol. XL, p. .S6 ; Anderson, 

 Scotland in Patjan Times, First Series, p. 109. 



