Mr Skene in his paper gave a sketch of the various views which had been entertained regarding the Celtic languages, and advocated the opinion that these languages belonged properly to the Indo-European class. He gave an outline of the distinctive peculiarities of the two branches of the Celtic languages, the Welsh and the Gaelic, and discussed the leading theories regarding the lost Pictish language, only five words of which were now extant. Mr Skene had, as the result of his investigations, arrived at the conclusion that the Pictish language occupied a place between the Welsh and the Gaelic—that it was a Gaelic dialect partaking largely of Welsh forms.