These and some other noteworthy observations here and there coming to light induced Strobel and Pigorini to issue a second report on the terremare of Parma. (B. 89.) But in this _brochure_, which appeared in 1864, there does not appear to be any striking departure from the views expressed by the authors in their previous report. They asserted that the people who constructed and inhabited these dwellings were a nomadic or agricultural race, belonging to the Bronze Age, and were probably allied to the Swiss lake-dwellers; and that their habitations varied in structural character according to the exigencies of the site chosen. No significance was attached to the piles at Castione and elsewhere, beyond supplying a proof that different methods of construction had been in use, the adoption of which depended on local conditions. The composition of the strata as "earthy beds, now ashy, now yellowish, now reddish or black," and their peculiarly wavy arrangement, were supposed to mark merely a variety. The terremare now became a controversial focus between the adherents of the old and new schools. To the former Cavedoni, Coppi, and subsequently Crespellani, lent their influence; while the latter were reinforced by Boni, Canestrini, Calegari, and Chierici. Amongst all these, during the next few years, Chierici stood pre-eminent. Already an ardent collector of the antiquities of his native country, he found in the mysterious terremare a congenial field and a new outlet for his love of practical research. For minute observation and lucid exposition of the phenomena observed in explorations, Chierici had few superiors. To him must undoubtedly be assigned the next great contributions towards the elucidation of the terremare problem. Observing in several instances that an earthy dyke of a rectangular shape, with a ditch outside, surrounded the terramara mound, and that upright beams, or traces of them, were to be seen in all parts of the deposits, he suggested that these were normal features in their structure. Although some of his contemporary explorers had incidentally noticed piles in a stratum different from that in which their original discovery was made at Castione, and even recorded the fact (B. 407, p. 7), it remained to Chierici alone to interpret the true significance of the discovery. In support of the theory of universality of the palafitte system, he showed that in many cases the piles had entirely disappeared by decomposition, and that the only traces of their existence were the holes they had occupied. Some of these, indeed, had subsequently become filled up by infiltrated matter, so that on section they presented the appearance of inverted cones. On this point he relates that in one space measuring 210 square metres he counted no less than 124 "buche di pali." (B. 206, p. 9.)