MOUNDS IN FLORIDA. 905 



of the common hard-shell clam worked to a sharp ed^e on all sides. 

 One spoon was uiade from the umbo of one of these clam shells, another 

 from the outer whorl of some large couch. We also found beads made 

 from the Oliva Uterata, as illustrated by fig. 260, p. 09, " The Archaeo- 

 logical Collection," and large conch shells, perforated and worked to 

 form club heads. Some were minus the hole in posterior surface of the 

 spire, but were otherwise exactly like those described by Dr. Ran on 

 page 60 of said book. A friend of mine has a similar supposed club 

 head from South Florida, consisting of a like conch shell worked in the 

 same manner at the small end and perforated by two holes in the outer 

 wall, but without the notch in the outer lip, so that the handle passed 

 to the right of the columella instead of at the lefr. The necklace or 

 bead conclis having two holes and truncated at the apex like fig. 257, 

 p. 09, we also found, and it was the first time our attention had ever been 

 called to them. We wondered if they might have been toy club heads 

 for children, but Dr. Rau's book informed us otherwise. In most of 

 these shells the perforations have been so formed that when strung and 

 disposed about a person's neck or chest, the lips and the most brightly 

 colored parts of the shell would be exposed to view. One small disk 

 from a hard clam shell having ragged edges and a beveled perforation 

 in the center was found. The hole was almost identical with those 

 made by boring worms and shells, and one i^erson who saw it was con- 

 fident that this was only an accidentally broken piece having such a 

 worm-bored hole. Upon having his attention called to the fact that 

 the bevel was at the inner surface of the shell, he was willing to accredit 

 the supposed work of a worm to an Indian. I mention this to show the 

 importance of close observation and how a very little thing may often 

 decide a question. A workman in the field informed us that he often 

 plowed out parts of shells that had been engraved. We visited the 

 hummock several times but found nothing of the kind. At last the 

 workman found one and showed me. It was nothing but a plain un- 

 worked columella with the outer whorls broken oft" undesignedly. He 

 had mistaken the natural spiral lines for carvings. This is about as 

 reliable as the information one can get from those who have never paid 

 special attention to archaeological specimens. Fragments of pottery of 

 various patterns were abundant here. The shells were all marine shells 

 excepting such land shells as had i)robably found their own way to that 

 place. 



By Hillsboro' Bay, at the mouth of the Alifia River, several miles be 

 low Tampa, is a shell heap called " Bull Frog Mound," so named from 

 the fancied resemblance of its shape to a bull frog when viewed from 

 the water in sailing up the bay. This is by far the most extensive shell 

 heap of any that we visited. It is formed of two mound-shape piles at 

 considerable distance apart, while all the ground between these piles 

 is covered with shells to the depth of several feet. The larger pile is 

 reported to be GO feet high and stands close to the river ; in fact the 

 shells extend well down into the river as if filled in beyond the original 



