8 ■ Proceedings of the Royal Irish Academy. 



rectangles. The large square under N of " Initium " consists of four serpents 

 with dogs' heads grasping the bodies. The small square under M consists 

 of two birds' heads opposite to one another, with some of that characteristically 

 fine yellow interlacing on black ground, as in the beards and queues already 

 described. The long horizontal border under " Evangelii " contains three 

 worms with heads, of which that to the extreme left resembles in some slight 

 degree the storks' heads in the border of the " Quoniam " page of the Book of 

 Lindisfarne. 



The great initial I^, as also in the corresponding page of the Book of 

 Lindisfarne, contains a wonderful piece of interlaced ribbon of yellow and red. 



Passing to 85 recto, the initial page of St. Luke, this is the famous 

 "Quoniam," at which the MS. is usually kept open in the glass case in the 

 Bodleian. Though the " Quoniam " has been copied by Westwood,^ it is worth 

 a fresh study. The Q shares with that of Lindisfarne the honour of being 

 among the largest on record. The other letters are the usual epigraphic 

 uncials in yellow on a light purple ground which have been already mentioned. 



It is scarcely necessary to describe all the ornamentation ; but we ought to 

 notice the unusual breadth of the system of interlacing of yellow and red, 

 forming the lower section of the left-hand border, and the upper section of that 

 on the right hand. Under this on the left, and in the corresponding corner 

 on the right, we have a square consisting of four smaller ones, the handsome 

 blacks and the yellow and red step-patterns. 



The entire of the bottom of the frame is one large piece of zoomorphic 

 interlacing, consisting of four large worms (two purple and two red), black 

 background, small yellow interlacings as before, heads of worms of whitish 

 yellow. These last are well drawn. 



Special attention must be called to the top of the fi'ame, which consists 

 of a stiff pattern, CNddently copied from stone. It is of yellow and red, and 

 bears some distant resemblance to the pattern on the lower section of the 

 west face of the great Cross of Killamery.^ Notice at left top corner, as an 

 outer embellishment of the frame, two wavy worms in an angular position, 

 with faces nearly touching one another, and the usual yellow interlacings on 

 black ground. Similar wavy worms occur on the initial page of St. John. 



The shaft of the Q consists of five compartments, of which the fourth is a 

 very fine piece of yeUow thread interlacing on black ground, exquisitely done 

 and introducing two Maltese Crosses, with halves of two others. Compare 

 the corresponding Q in the Book of Lindisfarne, where one such Cross is 



' Palmographia Sacra Pictorial London, 1843-4-5. 



- Figured by Margaret Stokes, Trans. R.I. A. vol. xxxi, Plate xlviii. 



