Livy has recorded that on the farm of a notary called Lucius Petillius at the foot of the Janiculum, two stone chests were unearthed, which according to their inscriptions should have been respectively the coffin of Numa Pompilius and the receptacle for his books. The remains of the king had disappeared, but in the second chest there were two bundles, each containing seven books, not only entire but apparently quite fresh: seven in Latin about the Pontifical Law, seven in Greek about Philosophy. Valerius Antias said that they contained the doctrines of Pythagoras, supporting by this plausible fiction (mendacio probabili) the credit of the vulgar opinion (vulgata opinio) that Numa had been a disciple of Pythagoras. As this undermined the established system of religion, the books were burned, the fire being made by the public servants whose duty it was to assist at sacrifices.

The subject of early Wall-Papers has not been much investigated in England. Of the various forms of hanging or wall-decoration which preceded them–designs painted, stencilled, or incised on the walls; and hangings of plain material, of tapestry, of embroidery, of cloth stained or painted, and even of painted paper–and of the wall-papers of the eighteenth century–painted or printed importations from China and the printed products of our own country, from simple floral designs to the Gothics of Horace Walpole or the elaborate ‘scenes’, one set of which sufficed to decorate a whole room –of all these something is known; though we still wait for an authoritative and comprehensive work. But little attempt has been made so far to bridge the gap between medieval and modern, the sixteenth and the eighteenth centuries.

The two objects shown in the illustrations, a bronze mirror and a platter of tinned bronze, were found together at Pant Fadog, on the farm of Llechwedd Du Bach, near the road from Talsarnau to Harlech, in Merioneth, about sixty-five years ago. The farm was in the occupation of the late owner of the mirror and platter, Mr. John Lloyd; and these have been presented to the National Museum of Wales in memory of his family, the Lloyds of Cwmbychan.

The bronze crowns and the ornament of chains and discs which are the subject of this paper, were found a few years ago at Cavenham Heath, Suffolk, lying close together at a depth of about 1½ ft. from the surface. Later they came into the possession of Mr. Ashley, landlord of the Crown Hotel, Mundford, from whom I purchased them.

An interesting finger-ring, presumably of Phoenician origin, was brought to my notice as having been found in a rock-cut tomb in Malta. The owner was unable or unwilling to give any details as to the conditions under which the ring was found, but he is positive that it was given to him by a farmer who found the ring himself. The ring appears to have such exceptional features that I thought it my duty to describe it for the benefit of those who may be interested in this branch of archaeology.

In the summer of 1923 several Anglo-Saxon graves were discovered at Emscote, on the right bank of the river Avon, one mile above Warwick, and fifty yards from the south side of the embankment of the Great Western Railway. The remains of five or six interments were found, the bones being very fragmentary and soft. They lay in a thick bed of gravel which has been gradually removed. As soon as Mr. Cleaver, the owner of the gravel-pit, realized that these were ancient interments and the objects probably of some interest, he reported the matter to the Mayor of Warwick (Dr. Hubert Tibbits), who communicated through our Secretary with Mr. John Humphreys, F.S.A., one of the Local Secretaries for Warwickshire. At the latter's request I kept in touch with the excavation work, but by that time all the important objects had been found; since then one more grave has been disturbed, in which only a spear-head was found with the bones. As the gravel-pit on this side is practically exhausted, it seems improbable that any further discoveries will be made in this direction.

Having had occasion, when in Prague, to meet Professor Ščerbakivskyj and to discuss with him his work at Hontzi, I felt t i should be made known in England, more especially as little has been published from this area since Volkov's papers at the Geneva Congress. Only a short precis is possible of the excavations and illustrations. Although the excavator inclines to a Magdalenian date for the culture, perhaps because it is not typically Aurignacian, one might rather suggest ‘Eastern European Upper Palaeolithic’, which occurs in an area where the Magdalenians —a French folk—never penetrated, although their influence was no doubt felt. This is certainly applicable to Pfedmost and other finds in Moravia which are neither of true Solutre nor La Madeleine culture. It is important for prehistorians to grasp clearly the fact that even at this early time cultures had by no means even a European extension and that different provinces had different cultures, more or less related.

The beautiful gold ring here illustrated (fig. I) was dug up in 1924 at Cannington, near Bridgwater.

The high bezel contains a dark cabochon sapphire held by claws, the sides being ornamented with birds in pierced work. The hoop is engraved with the Angelic Salutation in capitals which include uncial forms ; it is flat sided, the surfaces sloping away to the outer edge, which is enriched by a pearled band and a raised quatrefoil at the back. The shoulders have monsters' heads in relief.