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portion which is different from any others known amongst our 
Kirkeudbrightshire 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 that 
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 straight 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 there was a total of only 
95, of which 21 are sepulchral. The stones are or were most 
numerous in Northumberland, which 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,” the 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 sculpturings, 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 
—at once so mysterious, so universal, and so human.* 
Note.—The cups and rings shown at the foot of Pl. 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 in solution of the origin and meaning of the petroglyphs. At 
present I see no better course than to collect facts and arrange material. 
