XVlll 



earlier and more genuine form of this group, and not the one 

 found underground in 1506; and that gentleman thought tliat 

 the intaglio by which the impression was produced was a work of 

 higher art than could have been produced by an engraver of the 

 date of the 16th century, to which it had been more naturally 

 referred ; and for this he assigned technical reasons, which (Mr. 

 Smirke observed) would be unintelligible to most of his hearers. 

 He confessed, however, that he was inclined to entertain a dift'er- 

 ent opinion from that held by Mr. King, and he attributed to the 

 seal a date later than 1506, and thought it to be a work of some 

 engraver of the " cinque cento " period ; but he could not profess 

 so extensive a knowledge of this style of art and so cultivated a 

 judgment on it as Mr. King. No doubt the seal was a remarkably 

 fine work of art ; but whether it represented a piece of earlier 

 Greek sculpture, or was meant to be a copy of the then newly- 

 discovered Vatican group, with such variation only as the oblong 

 oval form of the seal itself made it necessary to adopt, was an 

 inquiry on which he must leave to others to form their own 

 judgment. He hoped hereafter to assist in the formation of that 

 judgment by depositing a careful, enlarged, copy of the seal, 

 which might be collated with the cast of the Vatican group 

 that had long been in the Museum of this Institution. 



Kev. T. Phillpotts remarked that in former times it was 

 customary to strike commemorative medals. Julius the 2nd 

 might have struck such a medal representing the Laocoon Grroup, 

 and one of these might have been procured by Prior Collins, who 

 might have had the design engraved on his seal. If there had 

 been an ancient intaglio, in all probability it would have been 

 known, and Michael Angelo would have had no difiiculty in under- 

 taking the restoration of the group. 



Mr. Smirke had never heard of any such commemorative 

 medal struck on the occasion of this discovery, though there ex- 

 isted several proposed restorations of the group, and also an 

 engraving from a drawing, by Raphael, of the group in its 

 mutilated form. 



Mr. Charles Fox then gave a summary of a Paper, which 

 he presented for publication in the Journal, on Celtic Bmnains in 

 Algeria. 



The following Papers were read 



Ornithological Occurrences in Co'. 

 dd. 

 The Cliff-Castle of Kenickhek. By Mr. J. T. Blight, F.S.A. 



Ornithological Occurrences in Cornwall. By Mr. E. Hearle 

 Eodd. 



