1907-1908.] ! 87 



in a series of plants from the Cycus through the Christmas rose 

 to the pea. He then concluded by giving a concise technical 

 description of the various typial forms of receptacles, as well as 

 the leading classes of ovaries, and drew attention to the various 

 carpellary forms and their relations to the associated receptacles. 

 There was a large attendance of members present, and the 

 examination of Mr. Wear's micro-slides, illustrating the address, 

 was a source of much profitable interest, many fresh points being 

 elucidated in the general conversation that accompanied the 

 microscopical demonstration. 



"THE ANCIENT INHABITANTS OF IRELAND AND THEIR KINDRED. 



A well-attended meeting of the Archaeological Section was 

 held on the evening of the 6th January — the President (Mr. R. 

 Patterson, F.L.S.) occupying the chair. A paper on "The 

 Ancient Inhabitants of Ireland and their Kindred " was read by 

 Mr. Alex. Milligan. The lecturer began by reviewing briefly the 

 ethnographic aspect of Western Europe on the first arrival of the 

 Aryan immigrants in that region. The Atlantic seaboard from 

 Southern Spain north-westward to the shores of the Baltic had 

 been hitherto mainly occupied by an ancient race, most commonly 

 known as the Iberian, and which by competent authorities had in 

 recent years been traced to North Africa as its centre of dispersion. 

 The Iberian occupants everywhere gave way before the Celtic 

 invaders, but as it was not at all a war of extermination the more 

 ancient race was still largely represented in what was approximately 

 the same soil that they occupied when they first appeared in 

 history. After dealing with the physical characteristics of the two 

 races, Mr. Milligan proceeded to point out that as our own islands 

 were within the area affected by the Aryan irruption, an exam- 

 ination from an archaeological point of view of the evidence 

 relating to the earliest occupants of Britain and Ireland ought, if 

 the evidence be reliable, to harmonise with the ethnographical 



