250 Field Museum of Natural History — Anth., Vol. X. 



them two, and only the one in Fig. 154 three holes which Wu compares 

 with an elephant's nostrils. These holes do not penetrate the surface, 

 but intercommunicate beneath it, as is also done with buttons among 

 us. It will be seen that in shape and design there is a certain resem- 



Fig. 155- 



Fig. 154- 



Jade Buttons, Upper and Lower Faces. 



blance between these objects and the central pieces of the girdle-pendant. 

 The jade in Fig. 154 is "white with a black mist," that in Fig. 155 green. 

 In regard to the symbolism of these buttons, the commentatoi 

 Cheng K'ang-ch'eng, who likens them to the jade disks pi, is of opinioi 

 that the large ones symbolize the sun and the moon, the small ones the 

 stars, and that hence the single leather strips of which the cap pien w£ 

 sewn together were called also "stars." This explanation is approved 

 as correct by Wu. 



