74 TRANSACTIONS LIVERPOOL BIOLOGICAL SOCIETY. 



more of the blood of their non-Aryan predecessors and 

 gave rise to those northerly and western Celtic nations 

 that speak a Gaelic tongue ; while the later Brythons 

 became the more southerly peoples of Wales, Cornwall and 

 Brittany. The Celtic element in the Isle of Man is 

 Groidelic, and that with its Neolithic strain forms the basis 

 of the Manks people, reinforced later on by a strong 

 Scandinavian influence. 



For ithe bearing of the local folklore upon pre- 

 historic questions, the reader should refer to Mr. A. W. 

 Moore's book, " Folklore of the Isle of Man " ; but we may 

 briefly state here that the many stories of encounters 

 between mortals and fairies or gnomes inhabiting the 

 caves or the earth between men with swords and demons 

 with magic spells are supposed to be the relics of tradi- 

 tions handed down as to the real struggles between the 

 invading Celts with bronze weapons and the pre- Aryan 

 Xeolithic inhabitants. There is some evidence, given by 

 Moore and others, that the conquering Goidelic Celts 

 were "impressed by the nature worship of their prede- 

 cessors, and feared them as being gifted with magic 

 powers.'' So, we are told, Mannanan Mac Lir, the non- 

 Aryan magician, " kept by necromancy the Land of Mann 

 under mists " ; and, when routed by St. Patrick, accord- 

 ing to the Manks legends, he and his people being of 

 small stature " became fairies and lived in the ancient 

 tumuli, using flint arrow heads as the weapons with which 

 they avenged their wrongs on human beings."* 



The fourth or Iron Age was a late Celtic period which 

 extends into historic times. Just as stone weapons were 

 still in common use during the Bronze Age, so we find the 

 iron and bronze periods overlapping in their turn. These 

 are facts of importance which must be borne in mind when 

 * Moore, History of the Isle of Man, p. 43. 



