36 



NATURE 



\_May 13, 1880 



8. A curious tliree-pionged implement was found, nbout 

 3 feet deep, in*Uie large drain a few yards to the south of 

 the crannog ; the prongs arc curved, very sharp at the 

 points, and attached laterally ; they are ai inches apart, 

 and 4 inches long. 



ib) Of articles made of bronze or brass, the following 

 may be noted : — 



1. Two fibula; — one of which is figured here (Fig. 11) — 

 were found about the centre of the refuse heap, and a third, 

 much more elaborately ornamented, was subsequently 

 found in the debris when closing up the trenches. 



2. A bronze ring pin, 6 inches long. The square- 

 shaped portion of the top has a different device on each 

 side, one of which is a fylfot (croi.x gammde or swastika), 

 and the shank from its middle to the point is ornamented 

 on both sides (Fig. 12). 



3. A spatula or dagger-shaped inplement with blunt 

 edges, measuring ilj inches long and li inch broad. 



4. A thin spiral finger-ring. 





Fig. 12.— Bron2eRing Fig. 

 Pin (Scale J). 



— i size. Made from stems 

 i^Potytrichnm cojtimmtey. 



5. A bridle-bit. This consists of two large rings and a 

 centre-piece. Its extreme length is 10^ inches ; the outer 

 diameter of the rings is rather less than 3 inches, and the 

 centre-piece, which is entirely made of iron, is 35 inches 

 long. The rings are partly iron and partly bronze, the 

 circular portion being iron, and the rest bronze. The 

 bronze portion has two eyes or loops, one of which is 

 attached to the centre-piece and the other free. This 

 interesting relic was turned up by two visitors poking 

 with a stick at the south-east corner of the refuse heap. 



VI. — Miscellaneous Objects 

 I. Carved Wood. — Perhaps the most interesting of all 

 the relics discovered on the crannog is a small piece of 

 ash-wood, about 5 inches square, havuig curious diagrams 

 carved on both sides. Cm one side three equidistant 

 spiral grooves, with corresponding ridges between, start 

 from near a common centre and radiate outwards till 

 they join, at uniform distances, a common circle which 

 siirrounds the diagram. On the other side is a similar 

 diagram, with this difference, that between the points of 

 commencement of the spiral grooves there is a space left 

 which is occupied by a small circular groove surrounding 



the central depression or point. This figure is surmounted 

 and overlapped by two convoluted and symmetrical 

 grooves meeting each other in an elev.ated arch, with a 

 small depression in its centre. The relic was found on 

 the west side of the crannog, about 4 feet deep, and near 

 the line of the horizontal raised beams. 



2. Frins:c-lil\- Objects. — Another object which has 

 excited considerable curiosity is an apparatus made like 

 a fringe by simply plaiting together at one end the long 

 stems of a kind of moss. Portions of similar articles were 

 found in three difterent parts of the crannog, and all deeply 

 buried. The one figured here, and the most neatly 

 formed, was found in the relic bed near the hearths 

 (Fig. 13). 



3. Among the remaining articles under this head are to- 

 be found some portions of leather, one thick bit being 

 pierced by stout copper nails ; a few glass be.ads and 

 small rings made of bone; some fragments of pottery^ 

 one being the bottom of a jar, said to be Samian ware ; 

 portions of three armlets made of jet or lignite, together 

 with one or two other fragments of objects made of the 

 same material. 



According to a report by Prof. Rolleston of Oxford, who 

 kindly undertook the examination of the bones and horns 

 collected on the crannog, the following animals have their 

 skeletons represented : — The ox (^Bos longifrons') ; the pig 

 {Sus scrofa, variety, domestica), the sheep, old dun-faced 

 breed (Ovis aries, variety brac/iyura); the red-deer {CeiiJUS 

 ehiphus), very abundantly ; the roe-deer ( Cerviis cipreolus), 

 scantily, though unambiguously ; the horse {Eqniis cabal- 

 Ins) is represented by only one shoulder-blade ; and the 

 reindeer {Cerr'us terandiis) by one or two fragmentary 

 portions. Some of the bones and horns had their cavities- 

 filled with beautiful' green crystals, which on analysis 

 proved to be vivianite. 



.'\mong the specimens of wood used in the structure of 

 the island Dr. Bayley Balfour has identified the fol- 

 lowing : — Birch, liazel, alder, willow, and oak. In 

 addition to these some of the relics were found to be 

 made of elm and ash. Robert Munro 



THE UNITED STATES WEATHER MAPS, 

 AUGUST, 1878 



THE most remarkable feature of the meteorology of 

 the northern hemisphere for August, 1S78, as com- 

 pared with July preceding, was the enormous change 

 which took place in the distribution of amospheric pres- 

 sure over the Atlantic as far as lat. N. 6o\ the change- 

 being greatest in the region around Ireland and the 

 south-west of England, where it amounted to a fall of 

 about the third of an inch. Pressure was also still further 

 reduced over nearly the whole of the United States, 

 particularly in the north, the deficiency from the normal 

 at New York being o'i5o inch. In Europe this lowering 

 of the pressure extended eastward into Russia as far as 

 long. E. 40', where it rose to nearly the average. It again 

 fell on advancing further eastwards to o'i5o inch below 

 the normal in the valley of the Irtish, rising however 

 again to the normal over the western affluents of the 

 Lena. Thus from the Rocky Mountains, across the 

 United States, the Atlantic, Europe, and into Asia 

 as far as the Lena, pressure was under the normal, 

 in other words over a broad belt going half-way round 

 the globe. This region of abnormally low pressure 

 would appear to have stretched south-south-westward 

 from Western Siberia, embracing the regions marked off 

 by Syria, Egypt, Africa as far as Cape Colony, the 

 i\iauritius, Western India, and Turkistan. Also in 

 Victoria, Tasmania, and New Zealand pressure was very 

 low, being at Dunedin o'372 inch less than the normal. _ 



On the other hand, pressure was above the normal in 

 the region of the Rocky Mountains, over South Greenland, 

 Iceland, Faro, Shetland, and adjacent coasts of Norway ; 



