590 Proceedings of the Royal Irish Acadeiny. 



changes were made to bring our observation form into closer accord 

 with that adopted by the Ethnographic Survey Committee of the 

 British Association for use in England. The new form admits of very 

 rapid noting, and in collecting easily and accurately the main physical 

 characters of the persons examined. It has not, however, any 

 advantage over the old form, of which it is a modification, in the 

 convenience of working up results, in fact it is inferior in this 

 respect as the spaces for indices at the bottom of the page, which 

 are omitted, proved a great help in tabulating the results of the 

 Inishbofin Survey ; another defect is that some of the points to be 

 noted are not strictly defined, and leave too much to the personal 

 opinion of the observer. 



(a.) Sair and eye colour. — No change was made in this part of the 

 work, the method being exactly that used on the two previous 

 occasions. For full particulars the reader is referred to the Eeport 

 on the visit to the Aran Islands.^ 



(b.) Measurements and instruments. — These were the same as 

 formerly employed, with two additions: — (1) The height of the head ; 

 ;ind (2) height of cranium, both projections, directions for taking 

 which were printed on the observation forms. These measurements 

 were given a trial, as they form part of the series on the English 

 form, but after a time they were abandoned for reasons given below. 



The same set of instruments as used in Inishbofin was carried, 

 packed in a canvas case. It consisted of compas d'epaisseur, 

 compas glissiere, the portable pattern of Cunningham's craniometer, 

 Garson's anthropometer, steel tape, Snellen test types, note books, 

 nigrescence cards, and observation forms, as before. The only new 

 appliance was a Trinity hand camera, made by Messrs. Curtis, Suffolk- 

 street, Dublin, which, though subjected to rather rough treatment, 

 stood the test admirably and did very satisfactory work. "When not in 

 use it was carried in a stout waterproof case slung over the shoulder. 



(c). Remarhs on methods employed. — The work had to be carried on 

 under rather different circumstances from those experienced before, as 

 the weather prevailing during my visit to the district was not too 

 well suited for field work, the rains being frequent and heavy, and 

 the wind very strong, besides this, the population is much more 

 scattered than any dealt with before, and long journeys had often to 

 be made for very little result. In some ways, however, the work 



1 Ethnographj- of the Aran Islands, Co. Galway, Proc. E.I. A., vol. ii., 

 3rd ser., p. 768." 



