not-some dolmens, as in India, being, indeed, on the top of the mound; we find circles with avenues leading into them, and we find them with menhirs and with trenches. And there may be a combination of two or more of these along with circles. Further, it is amply clear that circles, avenues, dolmens, and menhirs were set up independent of any earth mounds or cairns. A more particular description of the Inverness-shire stone circles will tend greatly to elucidate the subject, more especially as these circles are so numerous, so well preserved on the whole, and so definite in their character and development. The Inverness and Strathnairn circles have been exhaustively mapped and described by Mr Fraser, C.E., of Inverness, in a paper to the local Field Club, and to him I am in the main indebted for measurements and details. There are altogether twenty-five circles, more or less preserved, within the water-shed of the Nairn, and some twelve or fourteen between that and the River Ness, and extending as far as Loch-Ness. The principal stone circles and remains are at Tordarroch, Gask, Clava, Newton of Petty, Druid Temple, and Dores. The general characteristics of these circles are these: (1) They consist of three concentric rings of undressed boulder or flag stones, fixed on end. (2) The outer ring varies in diameter from 60 to 126 feet-averaging 96 feet, and consists of long stones, from nine to twelve in number, set at nearly regular intervals, the tallest being at the south side, and the size gradually diminishing towards the north side of the circle. (3) The middle ring varies from 22 to 88 feet-average being 53 feet-in diameter, and consists of smaller boulders-few flags being used-set on end close together, with a slight slope towards the centre of the circle, and their best and flattest face outward. The largest stones are here again on the south side, and the smallest on the north. (4) A third and central ring, concentric with the other two, from 12 to 32 feet in diameter-averaging 19 feet-consists of stones or flags set on end close together. Of course the accuracy of the concentricity of the circles cannot be depended on; they are often slightly eccentric. They are built on low-lying or flat ground as a rule, and where stones are abundant. An entrance or "avenue" to the inmost ring can be distinguished in four or five cases only, and its direction varies from s. 5° E. to s. 41° w., the average direction being that of the sun at one o'clock. It is only at Clava, and only in two cases there, that chambers are found constructed on the innermost ring, and bounded by the middle ring. But three others present traces of a cairn of stones having existed between the middle and innermost rings, which we may call ring cairns, but no sign of an entrance passage; while two which have an avenue or passage (Croftcroy and Druid Temple) do not present any clear traces of ever having had a cairn-certainly not the Druid Temple circles. As to the process of building them, it would seem as if the outer ring was set up first, and the other two rings thereafter, while any chambered or ring cairn would be built on these as a foundation. 66 Another interesting series of stone circles exists in Badenoch and Upper Strathspey. The principal circles are at Delfoor, Ballinluig, Aviemore, and Tullochgorm-half-a-dozen altogether They all partake more or less of the ring cairn type; there is an outer circle from 70 to 101 feet in diameter; a middle one from 40 to 62; and an inner with a diameter varying from about 12 to 25 feet-average, 20 feet. The outer ring is in every case unfortunately incomplete, but it appears to average ten or eleven stones, the largest of which, some nine feet high, are to the south, and the lowest on the north side. The circle at Grainish, two miles north of Aviemore Station, is typical of the rest, and, indeed, typical of all these ring cairns. This circle has been known for a century or more. "Ossian" Macpherson, and his other namesake, Rev. John Macpherson, speak of it as Druidic," and in this the historian of Moray, Lachlan Shaw, agrees with them. Dr Arthur Mitchell describes it in the tenth volume of the Society of Antiquaries' Transactions, but gives an inaccurate idea of it in his drawing. The outer ring, 101 feet in average diameter, is represented by two fallen stones-9 and 7 feet long respectively, while five others can be detected by their fragments and the holes in the ground where they stood. The stones themselves, being granite, were, of course, appropriated for building purposes at no very remote date. The second circle is, with the exception of a gap or two, complete. The heaviest stones are to the south, and it is the same with the inmost circle. The middle circle has diameters of 62 and 59 feet, while the inner has a uniform diameter of 25 feet. The cairn has fallen to some extent into the internal open space. the cairn is about four feet, and that also is the height of the highest stones of the second ring. There is no trace of any passage entering to the interior open space through the ring cairn, any more than there is trace of such in the Inverness circles of the same ring cairn kind at Clava, Culdoich, and Gask. It is, moreover, abundantly clear that this cairn was never much other than it is now; there never was a chamber erected on the innermost circle, for, were this so, the stones would undoubtedly have still remained, as the place is a long way from cultivated land, and The depth of |