Note 48 — Chapter V

"It (the comb, Fig. 255) is 21⁄2 inches long, and 13⁄4 deep, and the three pectinated portions are held together by flat sides, decorated with scrolls and circles. The top or handle shows a triple open-work decoration, and the side-pieces are grooved at one end for receiving the clasp of a metal tooth, which replaced one of the lost bone ones."

Double-edged combs "vary from 3 to 4¹⁄₂ inches in length, and from 1¹⁄₄ to 2¹⁄₄ across, the teeth portions being double, and passing through and through the sides to which they were riveted."

"The crannogs of Dunshaughlin, Ardakillen, and Cloonfinlough, and the street cuttings in the city of Dublin, have afforded nearly all the specimens of which the localities have been recorded. The total number of combs at present in the collection, including those on the 'Find Trays,' is eighty. Many of these combs are but fragmentary; yet in each a sufficiency has been preserved to enable us to judge of the original size, and also of its style of ornamentation, which generally consists of transverse or oblique grooves, diced-work, interlacings, dotted lines, and circles surrounding a central indented spot."—(Wilde's Catalogue.)