It will be readily admitted by those who have been following the general results of archaeological research, that the investigation of those shell mounds left by the hand of man in Scotland has not led to such important conclusions as the study of similar deposits in Denmark. Doubtless this may be partly accounted for by the fact that these accumulations occur on a much larger scale in Denmark, and are more richly charged with relics of man’s handiwork. The evidence obtained points to the conclusion that the Danish shell mounds or ‶kitchen middens″ belong to some part of the neolithic or new stone age. But if we ransack the Transactions of the Antiquarian Society of Scotland to see what has been done in connection with this subject in our own country, the results are not quite so satisfactory. An unbiassed reader would be apt to infer that few of the shell mounds date back to neolithic time. In some cases the evidence in support of this contention can hardly be said to be conclusive. Indeed, one is almost tempted to put the question: Is there in the northern Highlands a shell mound of undoubted neolithic age? If so, where is it, and what is the evidence in proof of it? This line of research was suggested to us by a recent examination of the contents of an ancient shell mound on the western shore of the Kyle of Tongue, not far to the north of the ferry house. In the