60 ACCOUNT OF THE GENERAL MEETINGS AND ANNUAL MEETING. 
the same nature — chlorate schist — with a hard, smooth surface, 
polished by attrition of the ice, and often with large areas free from 
cracks and fissures. The figures on them have been made by 
repeated blows of some pointed implement, probably of flint or 
other hard stone. No traces of metal have been found, and it has 
been proved by experiment that this kind of punching can be 
better executed by stone tools. Most of the figures represent 
horned animals — oxen, ibex, chamois, and sheep. There are 
some dogs and a bird or two. The oxen are often in pairs, and 
rude indications of a plough and a man. Other designs consist of 
weapons, geometrical figures, and complicated patterns of doubt- 
ful meaning. Their age has been computed at from 3,000 to 3,500 
years, and the artists were probably herdsmen of African origin, 
who had been engaged in the chase and in agriculture before 
ascending to the Iyigurian Alps." 
(N.B. — A full account of this paper was published in the last 
number of the Proceedings) . 
435th GENERAL MEETING OF THE SOCIETY. 
May 1st, 1913. 
(Western Daily Press, May yth, 1913). 
' ' The last general meeting of the session was held at the 
University. Miss Ida M. Roper, President, was in the chair. 
Mr. O. J. Mountney showed some shells of the Roman snail 
(Helix pomatia), found frequently on the sites of Roman villas 
and camps. He had recently discovered a living specimen. Mr. 
Denys Munro Smith showed some interesting lantern slides from 
photographs of the nests of local birds, including the sheld-duck, 
shoveller, wild-duck, curlew, cirl bunting, reed-warbler, willow- 
wren, chiff-chaff, wood- wren and lapwing, &c; also a photograph 
of a young cuckoo in the nest of sedge-warblers, its foster-parents. 
The nest of the sheld-duck photographed was made on the ground, 
a very unusual position, the bird generally selecting a rabbit- 
burrow or hollow tree for its eggs. Several nests of the cirl-bunt- 
ing had been found, the bird being fairly abundant in the district 
and nesting not far from the city. The lecturer commented on 
the lapwing's habit of hovering and screaming over the intruder's 
head. This was never done near the eggs. A curious trick of 
the willow wren of descending on her nest containing eggs, from 
which she has been disturbed, with grass in her bill, was men- 
tioned. This had also been noticed in the case of a blue-tit. The 
frequently described habit, common to many species of birds, of 
fluttering about as if wounded, when put off their young was 
discussed." 
