126 TRANSACTIONS LIVERPOOL BIOLOGICAL SOCIETY. 



Maughold, by Mr. P. M. C. Kermode, in 1901, and 

 figured and described in " The Reliquary and Illus- 

 trated Archaeologist/'* July, 1902. Around a circle 

 enclosing a Hexafoil design is the following inscription, of 

 which, unfortunately, the beginning is broken off: — 

 neitspli epps de ixsvl. It is here met by some 

 characters running in the opposite direction, of which one 

 can make out the letters — bpat. Below the circle are two 

 small crosses (of the very rare form met with at Kirk 

 Madrine, Wigtown) down by the sides of which runs the 

 following unique formula : — 



[feci] in xri homihe 



crvcis xri imagehem. 

 With two exceptions the H form stands for X (fig. 28). 



This is probably earlier than the 8th century. 

 Another cross, formerly on a hedge at Port-y-Yullen, 

 Maughold, but now in the churchyard, bears across the 

 edge the simple inscription, Crux Guriat, a name met with 

 in Xorth Wales in the 9th century. The upper part of 

 our figure 29 shows the inscription from a rubbing, one- 

 fourth actual size. 



The greater number of these inscriptions are, however, 

 in " Runes," the peculiar characters developed three or 

 four centuries before the Christian era by the Goths, who 

 came in contact with the Greek colonists from the Black 

 Sea trading for amber. These characters underwent great 

 changes in the course of centuries, and are classed 

 according to their period as Gothic, Anglian, and Scandi- 

 navian. A solitary example of the Anglian runes of about 

 the eighth century has recently been found at Maughold. 

 Only eight characters now remain, a twelfth part of the 



- ;: We are much indebted to the courtesy of the publishers of that 

 periodical for the kind loan of some of the blocks which illustrated 

 Mr. Kermode's paper. 



