50 BULLETIN 14 7, UNITED STATES NATIONAL MUSEUM 



axialy into the obverse surface. Other incised curvilinear designs 

 have been incised in the form of a crescentic panel parallelling other 

 incised lines and reaching the lateral edges at the center. A bilater- 

 ally drilled perforation for suspension has been cut through the 

 shell pendant near one end. Dimensions : 7.6 centimeters (3 inches) 

 long and 3.5 centimeters (1.4 inches) wide at the center. It has a 

 uniform thickness of 0.8 centimeter. 



Aboriginal art work in shell from northeastern Santo Domingo is 

 further represented in a series of perforated Oliva^ Ultimus^ and 

 Bulla shells originally used as beads in necklaces. Several of the 

 shell beads have transverse perforations. These are illustrated in 

 Plate 10, Nos. 6, 7, 8, and 9. (Cat. No. 341062;U. S. N. M.) Perfora- 

 tions for suspension in each of these shell beads, with the possible 

 exception of No. 6, have been made with a saw or grinding tool and 

 have not been drilled as have the bilaterally perforated shell pendants. 



An interesting observation regarding the transversely perforated 

 Oliva shell beads is that they were found at each of the sites ex- 

 plored, except in the caves of the Playa Honda coast. Nos. 7 and 9 

 were picked up at the rock-cleft burial site at Upper Orange Key. 

 The burials on Upper and Lower Orange Keys are several kilometers 

 east, but are located on the same side of the bay as the caves of the 

 Playa Honda coast. The absence of similar shell beads from the 

 midden deposits in the caves does not preclude the supposition that 

 the burials are those of the cave dwellers, nor does it preclude the 

 supposition that their technic in shell so far as transverse perforation 

 is concerned is identical with that employed by the occupants of 

 Anadel and San Juan sites. Suspension perforations in Nos. 4 and 5 

 are small holes drilled at either end. They are similar to the tubular 

 stone bead, 2, of the same plate. The average dimensions of the 

 shell beads figured in Plate 10 are 2.4 to 2.8 centimeters (0.9 inch to 

 1.1 inches) in length, and 1.4 to 1.8 centimeters (0.5 inch to 0.7 inch) 

 in section. This type of shell bead is typical of Tainoan culture and 

 has been found in several localities throughout the Greater Antilles. 



Swallowing stick of hone. — A fragment of a swallowing stick, used 

 to produce ceremonial or religious vomiting, was dug up at the San 

 Juan site. The object is the worked section of a manatee rib 

 {Trichechus manatus). It has been shaped somewhat like a spoon 

 handle with flat plain surfaces tapered to a truncated end section. 

 Edges are smoothly rounded and the entire surface polished. The 

 end section, usually decorated with figurine carving, had been broken 

 off and could not be recovered. Dimensions: 7.7 centimeters (3 

 inches) long and 3.7 centimeters (1.6 inches) wide. (Cat. No. 

 341007, U.S.N.M.) It is figured as 7 of Plate 9. 



Picks of conch shell. — Mention has previously been made of the 

 quantities of small conch-shell picks from the kitchen middens in 



