VOL. XIX.] PHILOSOPHICAL TRANSACTIONS. HI 



I this morning was shown an altar-piece, dug up here about 3 years since, 

 and took its inscription, which is pretty entire, but roughly cut in the stone of 

 the place, which is soft and mouldering, nor capable of long continuance when 

 exposed to the air. 



It appears that this inscription was of the Bas Empire, not before Diocle- 

 sian, nor yet so late as Theodosius, it being Pagan. The stone itself is about 

 32 inches high, l6 in breadth, and Q thick. On the one end is engraven, not 

 very well, the resemblance of a genius, holding a cornucopia ; on the other is 

 a flower-pot, somewhat belter executed, but a little damaged by the softness of 

 the stone. The backside, opposite to the inscription, is adorned with a pretty 

 sort of foliage, designed to fill up the vacant space. On the top, in a pretty 

 deep cavity, is a full face of a man, almost such as they paint the sun or full 

 moon with, with a cap on his head, of which as yet I cannot comprehend the 

 design. 



Account of a Roman Pottery, near Leeds in Yorkshire. By Mr. Ra. Thoresby, 

 in a Letter to Dr. Lister. N° 222, p. SIQ. 



I wish your opinion concerning a Roman pottery, that I have lately discovered 

 in this parish : it is upon Blackmoor, about 2 miles from Leeds, the old Leo- 

 geolium. The name Hawcaster rig gave me the first occasion to hope for some 

 Roman ruins there ; but instead of the remains of a regular camp or fortifica- 

 tion, I was surprised to find several circular heaps of rubbish, far too small for 

 any military use; one was 1 6 perches round, another in walking jQ paces; 

 and these I take to be ruins of some of the furnaces. The ground is sandy, 

 yet plenty of clay is at no great distance ; the country people tell me of heaps 

 of slag and cinders. I fancy these might be for their bricks, because of the 

 great plenty of clay in the neighbourhood, and the great number of those 

 Roman bricks yet to be seen in the ruins of Kirkstall- Abbey; and that it be- 

 longed to the Romans, I conclude, partly because the inhabitants have no tra- 

 dition of any modern pottery, but chiefly because it is seated on a branch of 

 the Roman way, or one of their viae vicinnales, that leads from the great mili- 

 tary road upon Bramham moor, by Thorner, Shadwell, and Kirkstall, to Cam- 

 bodunum ; besides the very name seems to import some Roman castrum. The 

 village that succeeded the old pottery is called Potter-Newton. 



Account of several Shells observed in Scotland. By Sir Rob. Sibbald, in a Letter 

 to Dr. Lister, ivith some Shells. N° 222, p. 321. 



Of Univalves. — The rarest are, 1. The nautilus falconeri.* The structure 



* Nautilus Pompilius. 



