242 The Amorpholithic Monuments of Brittany. [April, 



termed " peristaliths." These features certainly are unusual 

 in Brittany, where, however, there are some examples, — at 

 Kerlescant, Plouneour, and elsewhere. Now lately the 

 author ventured to suggest that the circles of stone in Brit- 

 tany and elsewhere might be looked upon as the possible 

 remains of colossal "peristaliths," the sole indications of 

 gigantic tumuli which may formerly have filled their interior 

 space, and which have now disappeared by atmospherical, 

 aqueous, and human agencies during the lapse of centuries. 

 Nor need we much wonder if no trace of the aclual 

 sepulchral chambers within be left, when we consider that 

 the largest tumuli have generally been found to contain the 

 most insignificant kists ; besides, it is far from improbable 

 that the builders of the huge mounds, such as those at 

 Mont St. Michel, &c, in the immediate neighbourhood of 

 the lines and circles, constructed their barrows from the 

 material afforded by the debris of the more ancient tumuli 

 within the circles. 



Mr. Fergusson, in his recent work on " Rude Stone 

 Monuments," gives John Stuart ( " Sculptured Stones of 

 Scotland ") the credit of having first remarked — " Remove 

 the cairn from New Grange and the pillars would form 

 another Callernish ;" but thirty-seven years ago Mr. Lesh- 

 ingham Smith * notices the ingenious suggestion of the 

 Messrs. Anderson, viz., that " the circles usually called 

 Druidical temples are nothing more than cairns without the 

 loose stones" 



Since, however, the above suggestion was offered by the 

 present writer to the late Ethnological Society, he (the 

 author) is altogether inclined to admit the conclusion to 

 which Fergusson has arrived, viz., that the stone circles in 

 Europe appear to have been introduced in super cession to the 

 circular earthern mounds which surround the early tumuli 

 of our downs. These earthern enclosures still continued to 

 be used surrounding stone monuments of the latest ages, 

 but, if Mr. Fergusson is not mistaken, also gave rise to the 

 form itself. For instance, the circle at Stanton Moor — 

 called the nine maidens — may be looked upon as a 

 transitorial example. 



The circular mound, which is thirty feet in diameter, en- 

 closed a sepulchral tumulus, as was no doubt the case from 

 time immemorial, but in this instance was further adorned 



* Vide " Excursions through the Highlands and Isles of Scotland in 1835 

 and 1836," by the Rev. C. Leshingham Smith, M.A.,. Christ's College, 

 Cambridge. 



