378 Vegetable Soil. [July, 
stone, as nearly daily it carries a few particles of dust and 
lodges them in the growing plants, thus promoting their 
growth. Some ants also always patronise these stones, be- 
ginning their work at the sunny side, from which they 
rapidly carry their accumulations on to it ; while worms 
ought to work most to the north or damp side, which often 
is the last to be covered, or is left uncovered. 
In Ireland there are numerous megalithic structures, and 
with excavations about such I have at different times been 
connected. In Glenbonniff, near Feable, Co. Clare, there 
are fosleacs, or flag dwellings, one of which was excavated 
by my brother, the late Dr. J. R. Kinahan, over thirty-five 
years ago. When he began it was completely covered over 
by vegetable matter (peat), and stood intaCt as when first 
ereCted on the old surface of the ground. I have since 
again visited this place, and since he was there other similar 
structures, similarly circumstanced, have been exposed by 
the turf-cutters. These structures were solely buried by 
vegetable growth and decay. 
In Ballykean, near Redcross, Co. Wicklow, there are a 
number of “ cupped stones,” some still standing well out of 
the ground, while others are nearly buried. To try and find 
out what was the original use of the cups, or at what time 
the cups were made, I excavated about some of them. 
Those that were more deeply buried (some were then nearly 
covered up, although all were to be plainly seen at my first 
visit four years before) had about 18 inches of vegetable soil 
alongside, which was far in excess of the average depth on 
the rest of the field (about 8 inches), but all rested direCtly I 
on a shingly substratum, the same as the subsoil under the 
rest of the field, into which, in no case, had they sank, al- 
though in some cases it was evident that when the land was 
first tilled (it had been a wood 200 or 300 years ago) holes j 
alongside the large stones had been dug, and the smaller 
stones buried in them. Similarly with all the megalithic 
structures that elsewhere I have excavated about, they rested 
on the natural subsoil similar to that under the vegetable 
soil of the adjoining ground. In the case of the Ballykean 
cupped stones I believe the great growth of soil, in the four 
years previous to the time the excavations were made, was 
principally due to the grass during the last two years 
not having been cut for hay, but having been left as winterage j 
for cattle. 
In many of the prehistoric feartha, or burial-places, the j 
kistveans were at or near the surface of the ground, and at ! 
the present time they nearly invariably are at or near the 
