574 Proceedings of the Royal Irish Academy. 



of Lerida, and as to that oF Tarragona, none have been discovered 

 there up to this date (1893). In general terms it may therefore be 

 stated that the known dolmens of Catalufia are to be found grouped 

 in the extreme eastern part of our Pyrenees, the greater number 

 of them lying in the vicinity of Espolla. This limitation of the 

 known mcgalithic remains to such a relatively small space, must 

 however be understood as merely showing how very little the 

 mountainous part of this broken territory has yet been investigated, 

 since we all remember, how, in the French Pyrenees only a few years 

 ago, very few monuments of this class were known, whilst, at present, 

 we have ascertained the existence of many such, in the country 

 extending between the Gulf of Gascony and Cape Creus. It would 

 indeed seem inexplicable why the people, of whom these constructions 

 are the remains, should have scattered them in great number on the 

 northern slope of the Pyrenean chain, while on the southern only a 

 few should have been left at one of its extremities. 



"I have, from these considerations, been impelled to utilize my 

 excursions for the investigations of all such localities, as judging from 

 their names, seemed to indicate the probability of the existence of 

 some example of this class of monument ; and at present I have the 

 satisfaction of being able to add 19 dolmens and some menhirs to the 

 total number already known in Cataluna> 



"As may be seen from the sketches, all the dolmens, but one, 

 present the same form and the same style of construction ; hence, it 

 may be inferred that they are by the one and the same people. 



" In the descriptive notes, I have endeavoured, where possible, to 

 mark the manner of orientation of these monuments. I am quite 

 aware that, although archseologists usually treat this datum as of 

 interest, Nadaillac nevertheless, affirms that, judging from the total 

 evidence available, there does not appear to be any rule having 

 determined the direction of orientation. Although such a conclusion 

 would seem to result from my own observations, I nevertheless mark 

 the direction in each case, since no datum can be considered as 

 useless when treating a question on which the last word has not 

 yet been said." 



The author then gives a detailed description of each particular 

 monument, with a sketch, plan, and dimensions; the direction of 

 orientation in each case being referred to the magnetic north, without, 

 however, the equally necessary date of observation and of the amount 

 of declination for the locality. As however it may be assumed that 

 the observations were made before 1892, and probably about that 



