The heads of arrows, bolts, darts, javelins, lances, and spears so nearly resemble one another in character, that it is impossible to draw any absolute line of distinction between them. The larger varieties must, however, have served for weapons retained in the hand as spears, while those of small and moderate size may have been for weapons thrown as lances, or possibly discharged as bolts or arrows. In length these instruments vary from about 2 inches to as much as 36 inches. Sir W. Wilde[1173] has divided the Irish spear-heads into four varieties, as follows:— 1. The simple leaf-shaped, either long and narrow, or broad, with holes in the socket through which to pass the rivets to fix them to the shaft. 2. The looped, with eyes on each side of the socket below and on the same plane with the blade. These are generally of the long, narrow, straight-edged kind. 3. Those with loops in the angles between the edge of the blade and the socket. 4. Those with side apertures and perforations through the blade. To these four classes may be added— 5. Those in which the base of each side of the blade projects at right angles to the socket, or is prolonged downwards so as to form barbs. [Illustration: Fig. 378.—Thames, London. ½] [Illustration: Fig. 379.—Lough Gur. ¼] [Illustration: Fig. 380.—Lough Gur. ½] [Illustration: Fig. 381.—Heathery Burn Cave. ½] A remarkably fine specimen of a broad leaf-shaped spear-head of the first class is shown in Fig. 378. The original was found in the Thames at London, and still contains a portion of the wooden shaft smoothly and carefully pointed. The wood is, I think, ash; and my opinion is supported by that of Mr. Thiselton Dyer, F.R.S., who has kindly examined the shaft for me. There are no traces of the pin or rivet, which in the spear-heads of this character appears to have been formed of wood, horn, or bone, rather than of metal, probably with the view of the head being more readily detached from the shaft, in case the latter was broken. I have, however, a leaf-shaped bronze spear-head of this class, found in the Seine at Paris, in which a metallic rivet is still present. It is formed of a square rod of bronze, which at each end has been hammered into a spheroidal button, of at least twice the diameter of the hole through which the rivet passes. Portions of the wooden shaft are still adhering to the rivet. The wood in this instance also appears to be ash. I have a rather narrower spear-head of the same type as Fig. 378 (10¾ inches), found with a bronze sword near Weymouth; and another identical in type with that from the Thames, but only 9 inches long, found in the county of Dublin. Others of nearly the same form (12¾ inches and 8¾ inches) were found with a bronze sword in an ancient entrenchment at Worth,[1174] in the parish of Washfield, Devon. Another spear-head of this type from the Thames[1175] (13½ inches) is in the British Museum, as are others (13 inches and 10 inches long).