TKANSACTIONS OF THE SECTIONS. *"**^ 



manner of expression. Measurements u^__ ,. ., Wnllon skulls showed tLat a gTeater 

 amount ot dohcliocephaly was attained an tUeiii' tili"» . -^:r,Qst any other Keltic 

 race, except the Kerry Irish. 



On an Inscribed Stone at Newhagf/ard, in tlie County of Meath. 

 By Ettgei^^e A. Coitwell, LL.D., M.B.I.A. 



The author stated that the stone, of which a rough di-awing of the natiu-al size 

 was exhibited, lies in a field near the river BojTie, belonging- to J. Youell, Esq. 

 The stone is a Hock of Old Red Sandstone, 2 ft. 11 in. X 2 ft. 10 in. X 1 ft. 8 in. It 

 is known in the neighboiu'hood by the name of "the Giant's finger-stone." It is 

 now 115 yards from a circular earthen encampment, which the author described. 



There are characters on all of its surfaces which the author believes to be cut, 

 and not punched. The author is not able to give any intei-pretation of these 

 markings. 



On the Orir/in of tJie Domestic Animals of Europe, 

 By W. Boyd Dawkins, M.A., F.B.8., F.G.S. 



None of them date so far back as the Quatemaiy age. The sheep, goat, small- 

 horned ox {Bos longifrons), the domestic horse, the dog, the tamed wild boar, and 

 the turf-hog, to which all the European swine can be traced, appeared in Europe 

 at the same time in the Neolithic age. He argued that they were probably derived 

 from the East, and imported by a pastoral people from the central plateau of Asia, 

 The evidence afibrded on the point by the southern forms of vegetation foimd along 

 with this gToup of animals in the S'niss lakes adds considerable weight to this view. 

 In Britain, down to the time of the English invasion, there was no evidence of any 

 larger breed of oxen than the small short-horned Bos longifrons ; the larger breed of 

 the TJrus type were probably imported by the English, and is represented in the 

 present day in its purity by the white -bodied, red-eared Chillingham ox. In the 

 course of the discussion Dr. Sclater fully agi'eed with the views of the speaker as 

 to the eastern origin of our domestic animals, since the East is the only region in. 

 which the wild ancestors of the domestic breeds are now found. 



On the attempted Classification of the Pcdaolithic Age hy means of the 

 Mammalia. By W. Botd Dawkins, M.A., F.B.S., F.G.S. 



The late eminent French naturalist, M. Lartet, acting on an « ^^'''i'^'^ considera- 

 tion, has attempted to divide up the Palaeolithic age into four distinct periods. 

 " L'age du gxand ours des caverues, I'age de IMlephant et du rhinoceros. Page du 

 renne, et l'age de I'aurochs." The very simphcity of this system has made it 

 popular. There are, however, two fatal objections to this mode of classification. 

 In the first place, nobody could expect to find the whole Quaternary fauna buried 

 in one spot. One animal could not fail to be better represented in one locality than 

 another, and therefore the contents of the cave- and river-deposits must always 

 have been difierent. The den of a hytena coidd hardly be expected to afford pre- 

 cisely the same animals as a cave which had been filled with bones by the action 

 of water. It therefore follows that the very diversity which M. Lartet insists upon 

 as representing different periods of time, must necessarily have been the result of 

 different animals occupying the same area at the same time. In the second place, 

 M. Lartet has not advanced a shadow of proof as to which of these animals was 

 the first to arrive in Europe. From the fact that the glacial period was colder 

 than the quaternary, it is probable that the arctic mammalia, the mammoth, woolly 

 rhinoceros, and the reindeer arrived here before the advent of the cave-bear. It is 

 undoubtedly true that they died out one by one, and it is veiy probable that they also 

 came in gradually. The fossil remains from the English caves and river-deposits, 

 as, for instance, those of Kent's Hole or Bedford, prove only that the animals in- 

 habited Britain at the same time, and do not in the least degree warrant any specu- 

 lation as to which animal came here first. Nor does it apply to France or Belgium, 



