TRANSACTIONS OF SECTION D. — DEPT. ANTHKOPOLOQT. 627 



the village, to a more or less extent, contrasted strongly in colour of hair and eyea 

 with the people of Norfolk and Suffolk on the borders of which two counties 

 Brandon is situated. Very dark hair <and eyes evidently predominated, whilst they 

 were almost wanting in the ranks of the militia and volunteers who were then 

 in training, and so could be inspected for the purpose of testing this point. Of eighty 

 recruits of the West Norfolk regiments, only three were entered in the reoister 

 as having davlc hair and eyes, and seventeen only with a depressed nasal-bone. 

 Photographs of a number of the Brandon inhabitants have been obtained [shown], 

 and several have been mistaken by persons acquainted with the Principality for 

 Welsh ; whilst others were thought by French anthropologists, to whom they were 

 shown, to resemble the Iberian type of the Continent. 



Though it has been supposed that the flint-works at Oissbury might also have 

 continued in operation long after the Roman times, a greater mixture of races would 

 appear to have occurred there, from causes peculiar to the locality, than in the 

 more remote village of Brandjon, where the march of civilisation was less rapid ; 

 consequently it is not believed that any of the original flint-workers of Oissbury 

 have now any representatives existmg ; though here and there one may fancy that 

 the type occasionally comes out through atavism. At Brandon there can scarcely 

 be a doubt that we still possess examples of an early British race. 



5. On the Metention of Ancient and Preliistoric Customs in the Pyrenees 

 By Dr. Phen^, F.8.A., F.B.G.8. 



The author pointed out that he had the honour at the last meeting, at SheflSeld to 

 lay before this Section some matters which had come under his notice rather unex- 

 pectedly while he was making quite a different class of inquiries, to pursue which 

 he had visited the Pyi-enees. The particulars were crude and incomplete, but he felt 

 it a duty to lay before this society the matter as far as he had it under his observa- 

 tion, that others might have an opportunity of examining it as well as himself or 

 in the event of his being prevented, from any cause, investigating further, that it 

 might not be lost to observation. 



He said : ' I this year pursued the subject steadily, making photographs of the 

 greater points of interest where roads permitted conveyance of the necessary 

 apparatus, and I not only find my views confirmed, but also that several Frenchmen 

 of science have been following the same investigations, so that I am able to add 

 their testimony to my own. 



* These gentlemen have very kindlj^ placed the results of their investigations 

 before me, and have expressed interest in my own researches. 



' The discovery of a new field of Gallic monuments, with interments and ciner- 

 ary urns of the oldest type, is not only interesting, but does not stand alone, as 

 with these are found a class of monuments hitherto entirely overlooked by anti- 

 quaries, and also customs retained by the population of the surroundino- districts 

 of a nature so peculiar that, while they probably throw a light upon some past 

 customs of these people not before known, they stand now in an almost unkno%vn 

 position. 



' To make quite sm-e of my subject, I again approached the district throuo-h 

 Languedoc, where there is a complete absence of even the most usual represent^a- 

 tions, either in sculpture or paintmg, of the serpent or dragon. Stopping at the an- 

 cient cathedral of St. Bertrand-de-Comminges, the old Roman station of Luo'dunum 

 Convenarum, the inquirer all at once finds himself in a diflerent reo-ion and as it 

 were in a diflerent age. 



' Over the principal doorway at the west side, the Madonna and Child occupv 

 a cbair made of dragons exactly identical with the dragon chair occupied by King 

 David I., of Scotland, as shown on his great seal. I produce the photograph and 

 great seal. AVithin the church, so very unsymbolic has some one been, that a dried 

 crocodile represents the veritable dragon the saint cleared out of the district. 



' Such sj-mbolism, apparently, runs in particular districts, and which are almost 

 always marked by old stations of the Romans, and more lately of the Templars. 



s s 2 



