422 Proceedings of the Royal Irish Academy. 



(4) The bones of small ruminants, probably sheep or goats. 



(5) In addition to these there were periwinkle and limpet shells, 



some charred wood, and a few cinerated bones. Most of 

 the bones were in a very fragmentary condition, the 

 larger ones having been split up in such a manner as to 

 render identification difficult. They are probably, as 

 suggested by Mr, Wakeman, the relics of a great funeral 

 feast or feasts. 



Messrs. C. E. Nuttal and Haslam, Army Veterinary Department, 

 afforded us valuable assistance in identifying these specimens. 



Passing from these remains to those of the human beings discovered 

 in the mound, we found that these latter could be divided into three 

 groups : the first consisting of the crania, the second of the larger 

 number of other bones including the ribs and vertebrae, the third of 

 the remaining specimens. 



Group I. This is made of : (1) three crania in a very fair state of 

 preservation, much better in fact than that in which most modern 

 Irish specimens are now obtainable, but brittle from the loss of 

 animal matter ; (2) the os frontis and facial bones of a fourth, with 

 several fragments of the cranial vault, and (3) an inferior maxilla. 

 The characters of the crania which, in their proportions and some 

 other points, bear much resemblance to those modern specimens from 

 the west coast, which have been recently described, are as follows : — 



[A.] 



Cranium of an adult male ; symmetrical, and of medium size ; 

 all muscular markings very strong, dolichocephalic (index, 74-2). 

 Forehead, somewhat receding, with large glabella and superciliary 

 ridges. The mastoid processes are large, and bulged out laterally. 

 Nose, evidently leptorhine and with high nasal bones. Orbits, oblong 

 and megaseme. Palate, deep and hyperbolic. This specimen is a good 

 deal mutilated, both zygomata, the inferior walls of both orbits, and 

 nearly all the inferior half of the occipital bone being broken away. 

 On account of the last-named injury it was unfortunately impossible 

 to obtain the cranial capacity with any accuracy. 



[B.] 



Cranium of a young adult female, of small size and sym- 

 metrical in shape. Forehead, upright, with well-marked frontal 



