The head in terra-cotta shown in the accompanying plate was dug up in the summer of 1881, during the course of excavations, levellings, and other earthwork, preparatory to building some of the many streets of houses which now nearly cover the Esquiline hill at Rome. With it were found, near the present Via Paolina, some fragments of terra-cotta mouldings and architectural ornaments, and a pine cone formed of the same material, some 12 or 15 inches high; from this we may infer that the building, of which these were fragments, was probably of a sepulchral character.