Trans. N. Y. Ac. Sci. 14-2 May. 7. 



mostly species of Unio. One near Palatka, Florida, is chiefly 

 made up of univalves, belonging to a species of Unio ( Campelomd). 

 The shell mounds of the Gulf coast are apparently the work of 

 a peculiar people, who subsisted chiefly on moUusks ; and the At- 

 lantic coast mounds are also probably the work of maritime tribes, 

 but not certainly the same with those living on the Gulf. They 

 had this in common, however, that both were cannibals. This is 

 learned from the condition of the human bones found in the 

 mounds, some of which are split longitudinally for the extraction 

 of the marrow. 



The date of the shell mounds is uncertain, but we have evidence 

 that they belong to a period long anterior to the advent of the 

 whites. They are generall)' overgrown by the forest, and bear 

 trees of many hundred years of age, so that the process of accumu- 

 lation ceased hundreds of years ago. The Florida shell mounds 

 exhibit another feature indicative of age, /. <?., they are in part 

 composed of shells which are rare in the vicinity or not found there, 

 and the specimens obtained from the shell mounds are often larger 

 than any that can now be procured in that region. The early nar- 

 ratives of the experience of the whites in the Gulf mention the 

 Caribs as the most important Indian tribe met with. These were 

 maritime in their habits, living largely upon mollusks and fish, 

 and were cannibals. It is quite possible therefore that the build- 

 ers of the shell heaps on the Gulf coast were Caribs, who may 

 have had formerly a more extended range than when seen by the 

 Spanish historians. A skull, taken by Dr. Newberry from a shell 

 mound near Cedar Keys, must have belonged to a man of good 

 size and creditable cranial development. It exhibited a character 

 common to most of the crania of these coast tribes, namely, that 

 the under jaw projected so that the upper and under teeth were in 

 direct opposition, and^wom down around the whole half- circle with 

 great regularity. It is not uncommon to find sets of teeth nearly 

 complete, but worn quite to the alveolus. This extensive wearing 

 away of the teeth was probably caused by the use of food contain- 

 ing much siUca, either that was not properly freed from sand, or more 

 likely the seeds of plants which contained considerable silica in 

 their tissues. The elongation of the under jaw gave greater space 

 for the teeth than orthognathus races have. By the use of tender 

 and cooked food, the work of the jaw in mastication has been di- 



