~Form of Catapultæ.~ Catapultæ were sometimes constructed to discharge a flight of arrows at once, by placing them on a rack, and causing a strong plank, previously drawn back, to strike against their ends. The more perfect engines of the Romans were all dependent on the elasticity of twisted cords made of flax, hemp, the sinews or tendons of animals, from the neck of the bull, or legs of the deer species, and ropes formed of human hair were preferred to all others, as possessing greater strength and elasticity. Catapultæ were immensely powerful bows, drawn back by capstans, levers, or pulleys, having only a single cord for the arrow, (plate x.), but the Balistæ had a broad band, formed of several ropes to project the stone, which was placed in a kind of cradle, like a cross-bow. (plate xii.) ~Balistæ at battle of Hastings 1066~ The Normans appear to have introduced a kind of Field-Artillery, consisting of instruments or machines, from which darts and stones were thrown to a considerable distance, as they occur at the battle of Hastings. They also employed arrows, headed with combustible matter, for firing towns and shipping. ~Fiery darts, A. D. 64.~ We read in the Scriptures of “Fiery Darts.” Ephns. vi., 16. ~Fire from Balistæ.~ Our ancestors derived the knowledge of some composition from the Saracens, which resembled Greek-fire, and was often thrown in pots from the Balistæ. ~Fire by Arabs commencement of 13th century.~ From a treatise on the “Art of Fighting,” by Hassan Abrammah, we learn that the Arabs of the 13th century employed their incendiary compositions in four different ways. They cast them by hand; they fixed them to staves, with which they attacked their enemies; they poured forth fire through tubes; and they projected burning mixtures of various kinds by means of arrows, javelins, and the missiles of great engines. ~Bombs of glass, &c.~ ~Fire-mace.~ Vessels of glass or pottery, discharged by hand or by machines, were so contrived, that on striking the object at which they were aimed, their contents spread around, and the fire, already communicated by a fusee, enveloped everything within its reach. A soldier, on whose head was broken a fire-mace, became suddenly soaked with a diabolic fluid, which covered him from head to foot with flame. ~Bombs from Balistæ.~ Bombs were also thrown from Balistæ. An engine was constructed at Gibraltar, under the direction of General Melville, at the desire of Lord Heathfield, for the purpose of throwing stones just over the edge of the rock, in a place where the Spaniards used to resort, and where shells thrown from mortars could not injure or annoy them. ~Onager.~