1885-1886.] 445 



hind legs do not show the " hough," but bend in the same 

 manner as the fore legs, so that, unlike other quadrupeds, it 

 can kneel and rest on its four knees, whereas it is usually de- 

 picted with the hind legs to bend in the same manner as the 

 horse or the cow. When artists and herald-painters continue 

 to commit this blunder unobserved, some palliation may be 

 afforded to the old heralds for their offences against zoology in 

 the errors and delusions arising from lack of information. They 

 could have had little opportunity of acquiring a correct know- 

 ledge of the rarer kinds of animals ; they had not the advan- 

 tage of seeing menageries of wild beasts or of consulting books 

 on natural history, with excellent illustrations, as the modern 

 herald may do ; only when their scanty information fell short 

 did they venture to draw on their imaginations for their beasts, 

 after the manner of some ancient worthies, " where the lion's 

 skin fell short they eked it out with the fox's." 



Mr. Vinycomb then proceeded to give a most interesting 

 description of some of the many monsters, illustrated by a series 

 of vigorously drawn sketches, with references to ancient poets 

 and writers as to their forms and special attributes, and their 

 symbolic use in art. 



At the conclusion of the paper, several members spoke of the 

 extreme value of the communication brought forward by the 

 reader, and an interesting discussion followed, after which 



Mr. Charles Bulla brought before the notice of the meet- 

 ing the upper stone of a quern obtained in County Derry by a 

 fellow-member, and sent for presentation through the Club to 

 the Museum. The stone is remarkable from its unusual shape, 

 being of greater diameter and less dome-shaped than any in the 

 Museum. 



The Secretary next exhibited a large number of the re- 

 versed variety of Helix nemoralis, which had been sent to him 

 from Bundoran. 



The third meeting for the session was held on Tuesday 

 evening, 15th December — The President, Canon Grainger, 



