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194 Ancient Pelaagic and Latian Vases + The last class to which I invite attention consists of a mixed and intermedi- ate ware, combining the characteristics of the earlier and later periods. They may be considered perhaps as links between the old Pelasgic and Latian and the subsequent Etruscan and Roman wares. They differ much from the earliest classes in form, and many of them also in material, and yet they resemble them in several points, more especially in ornamentation. For the most part they are plain ; and none of them have representations of figures upon them, but they exhibit the same ideas of decoration in the form of lines, the zig-zag, triangular, rhomboidal, meandering, and striated patterns, with the central ornament of the fillet. Most of these patterns may be seen in the earliest Pelasgic art ; and may be also traced on the painted vases of the old Athenian ware. They run through all the varieties of the Etruscan ware, (being more manifest in the earliest,) and were perpetuated to later times on Roman pottery and tessellated pavements, of which many instances occur even in our own country. On comparing the brown Pelasgic and Latian with the early black Etruscan ware, it will be seen that they differ in little but the colour; a resemblance which, while tending to establish the antiquity of the unfigured black ware of Etruria, seems to confirm the historical fact of a widely extended Pelasgic and Etruscan occupation over the whole of the Latian territory at an early period. There is but one more vase, to which I w r ould wish to call your attention. It is of great singularity, and undoubtedly of a very early period : it is certainly Etruscan, for it was dug up from the ruins of ancient Veii. The colour is nearly the same as that of the Pelasgic Alban vases; but the clay is much finer and more thoroughly baked. It is remarkably light and elegant ; and perhaps unique in its ornamentation. No one I think can doubt its great antiquity, though it may be diilicult to decide on the precise import of the figure represented upon it. (See Woodcut.) It may possibly represent an Etruscan hero. But it more probably typifies an Etruscan deity half man and half fish the Disketo or Dagon of the Etruscans ; and the additional symbol of the fish appears to favour the idea that it represents the national emblem of the maritime branch of the Etruscan nation. My principal desire, however, and that of my friend Mr. Belt, has been to con- tribute a few additional facts to the evidence required for the correct classifica- tion of the earliest Italian ware; and to excite some additional interest in the inquiry relating to the old Pelasgic migrations, and the original occupation of Italy questions which, as they tend to develope a nearer connection between the early Italian, the Teutonic, the Scandinavian, and the Celtic races, may be