tained numerous antiquities—swords, spears and other objects of iron—totally different from those found on the Pfahlbauten, then so prominently before the archæological world; and of these he made a goodly collection. Subsequently Professor Desor directed his attention to the same field of research, and he also collected a large number of objects, among them being Gallic coins and an iron sword-sheath ornamented with three fantastic horses, which at the time excited much interest among archæologists. Further discoveries in the same locality were made by a number of investigators at various times, among them being MM. Dardel-Thorens, E. Vouga, Borel, Wavre, etc.
As the relics found on La Tène were associated with piles, the locality was regarded by local antiquaries as the site of an ordinary pile-structure of the Iron Age; and as such it has been described by Dr. Keller and Professor Desor. In face of the facts disclosed by later researches this opinion can no longer be maintained. As a place of habitation it consisted of a series of rectangular wooden buildings, erected on both margins of an ancient outlet of the lake, and connected by a wooden bridge the piles of which have been traced for a considerable distance. The submergence of the locality, such as it was when its archæological treasures first attracted attention, was due to a gradual accumulation of mud and peat along the bed of the sluggish channel which carried, and
