65 



Length of the longer leg, .... 17 inches. 



,, ,, shorter do 13 ,, 



Diameter at small end, I2 j> 



„ „ large end, ^ „ 



Another implement, constructed also of yew timber, and 

 evidently related to that just described, was found along with 

 the latter, and also exhibited by Dr. Allman. It resembles 

 a funnel formed of two cylinders of different diameters, the 

 wider constituting the mouth, and the narrower the neck, the 

 whole being scooped out of a single piece. The neck of the 

 funnel fits accurately into the wider end of the siphon. The 

 following are the measurements : 



Length of wider cylinder, . . . . 2f inches. 



,, narrower ,, ..... 2 ,, 



Diameter of wider cylinder, .... 2^ ,, 



,, narrower ,, . . . . 1^ ,, 



The mine in which the implements just described were 

 found is one of several vertical cuttings recently discovered 

 near Ballydehob, in the parish of Skull, and apparently of very 

 great antiquity. The cuttings, when discovered, were filled 

 to the surface with the rubbish of the ancient workings, and 

 when this was removed there were found, lying at the bottom, 

 the subjects of the present communication, along with a great 

 number of rolled stones, almost all of which exhibited marks 

 of attrition, as if they had been used instead of hammers. A 

 beam of oak timber, about twenty feet in length, and notched 

 along the sides, in such a way as to suggest its use as an an- 

 cient ladder, was also found in the same place. 



Some idea of the antiquity of these singular mining ope- 

 rations may be formed from the fact of some of the old rub- 

 bish being now found near the mouth of the cuttings, with a 

 covering of more than two feet of apparently, naturally formed 

 peat. 



The implements exhibited are the property of J. W. Gierke, 



VOL. IV. G 



