_Ornamented Spears._--The spear-head indicated by fig. 1 in the accompanying illustration measures 7½ inches in length. It is a beautiful example in every respect, and when first lifted from the bed of the Shannon, was as bright as gold. It has no patina, and is now of a dull yellow colour. Fig. 2 is drawn upon a larger scale than that adopted in the general view of the spear-head, in order to illustrate the design with greater clearness. The work is very similar to some that appears on gold lunettes and other relics of the Bronze Age to be seen in the Academy collection. Fig. 3 illustrates the socket of a spear-head boldly and richly decorated in the same style. Fig. 4 is a full-sized engraving of the smallest bronze spear, or javelin-head, preserved in the collection. Like Fig. 4 of the group of spear-heads already given, it is composed of dark-coloured bronze, and exhibits, for the size of the object, a most disproportionate diameter in the socket. * * * * * [Illustration: Butt mounting of Crannog Spear-shaft. From the Grainger Collection.] _Crannog Spears._--Very few spear-heads of bronze have been found in Irish lake-dwellings, while arms of that class, javelins and arrow-heads, composed of iron, are very numerous. As may be judged from examples found at Lisnacroghera, the spear-shaft was usually about 8 feet in length; but one complete specimen, now in the Grainger collection, Belfast, has, so far as we are aware, been preserved: it is of ash. Objects of antique bronze, similar in form to that of a modern door-handle, may be seen in most of the important collections of Irish antiquities. Up to a recent period they were a puzzle to archæologists. That they were mountings for the butts of spear-shafts is now certain. Indeed, at Lisnacroghera a couple were found still retaining within them portions of the handle-ends. The mode in which they had been attached to the shaft is thus described by Canon Greenwell, who had secured at least five specimens from that crannog: ‘The end of the shaft is split, and into the split is inserted a wedge of wood, so that, when driven home, the wedge expanded the end of the shaft, and kept it firm in the butt.’ Iron spear-heads are often very elegant in form; and in some instances their sockets are ornamented with chevron and other tasteful patterns. They were secured to the handle by bronze ferules, or by rivets of the same metal, or of iron, which sometimes projected beyond the sides of the shaft, as we see depicted in the drawings in Anglo-Saxon manuscripts. The ferules occasionally exhibit depressions, or scorings, which would seem to have been intended for the reception of enamel. In no instance have the side loops, so common in bronze examples, been found on spear-heads of iron.