Feb., 1912. Jade. 305 



the spiral designs appear along the edge. The specimen in Fig. 2 has, 

 corresponding to the raised circle on the upper surface, a circle incised 

 on the reverse, in which three shallow oval cavities grouped around 

 two apertures are cut out. In Fig. 3, only a circle is engraved on the 

 back. This object is buff -colored, presumably due to underground 

 decomposition. It will be noticed that these three umbilical amulets 

 bear a certain resemblance to those explained by Wu as cap-buttons 

 (Figs. 154, 155) which I think may rather belong to this class. 



In Figs. 9-1 1 of Plate XXXVII, three tubes, octagonal in cut, are 

 shown, said to have been inserted into the urethra of the corpse. Others 

 explain that they were stuck into the nostrils, which is absurd as they 

 are too long and too big for this purpose. These pieces should be dis- 

 tinguished from the jade signets called kang-mao described by Dr. 

 Bushell in the work of Bishop which show a merely outward resemblance 

 to this type, but are much shorter and perforated, while these objects 

 are solid. That in Fig. 9 is of a brownish and bluish-black jade in an 

 advanced state of decomposition, gradually tapering below, the diameter 

 of the upper octagonal surface being 1.3 and that of the lower 1 cm. 

 The pieces represented in Figs. 10 and 11 are carved from a yellowish- 

 gray jade, uniformly thick, the sides of the former slightly curved in, 

 those of the latter being straight. 



