374 Archceologia. 



1314. In October [?], a comet appeared in the latter part 



of [the sign ?] Virgo, towards the N. — (Panlus Cygnasus, Chro- 

 nicon Citizense.) The accounts are very vague and contra- 

 dictory. 



1315. On October 29, a comet was discovered in the 

 regions lying around /3 Leonis. On November 28, it was in 

 the circumpolar regions. It then traversed the sidereal division 

 of Corvus, and passed to the square of Pegasus. It remained 

 in sight till March 11, 1316. — (Gaubil, Biot.) European 

 writers say that two comets were visible from December, 

 1315, to February, 1316. The first was much larger and 

 brighter than the second. — (Hagecius, Be Stella Nova anni 

 1571, etc., etc.) The 1ST. P. D. of the larger one on December 

 25, at seventeen hours, was 18° 38' j on January 15, at seven- 

 teen hours, it was only 9° 49'. — (Mussatus, De Oestis Itali- 

 corum, vii. 14.) Those who speak of the second comet, say 

 that it appeared in the E. — (Ghronicon Rotomagense.) Can it 

 be that after all there was only one ? 



1334. In August, a comet, with a tail seven and a half feet 

 [degrees?] long, was seen. — (Synop. Chronol.) 



1337. [ii.] A comet was seen in Cancer during the visi- 

 bility of the great comet of this year. It lasted two months. — 

 (Giovanni Villani, CTironiche, xi. 6Q.) 



ARCtLEOLOGIA. 



EXCAVATIONS ON THE SITE OE THE ROMAN OTHONA, AND AT 

 LEICESTEE AND SILCHESTEE. — DISCOVERY OF AN EAELY 

 HILL SETTLEMENT IN SCOTLAND.— ANCIENT CANOE FOUND 

 IN IRELAND.— FOEGED ANTIQUITIES. 



Excavations of considerable interest have recently been made upon 

 several important sites, and some of them, now in progress, promise 

 still more interesting results. The site of the first of these explora- 

 tions is in Essex. Towards the close of the Roman imperial rule 

 in Britain, three new fortresses had been raised to defend the coast 

 from the mouth of the Thames to the Wash, then harrassed by 

 Saxons and other mai'auders, which are enumerated in the Notibia 

 Utriusque Imperii, under the names of Othona, Branodunum, and 

 Gariannonum. The last of these is identified with the fine Roman 

 ruins now called Burgh Castle, in Suffolk, and Branodunum is Bran- 

 caster in Norfolk ; but Othona, which was garrisoned by a body of 

 Fortenses, appeared to be entirely lost ; it was supposed to have been 

 submerged under the sea somewhere near St. Peter's Head, in 

 Essex. It seemed the more surprising that the site of this station 

 should have been so entirely forgotten, as it was a place of some 



