﻿I/O SMITHSONIAN MISCELLANEOUS COLLECTIONS [VOL. 47 



merit, both artificially and numerically, in Porto Rico. While these 

 objects were common on that island, they have not been found in 

 Jamaica, the Bahamas, Cuba, or the Lesser Antilles. I have seen 

 one or two from Santo Domingo, but their geographical distribution 

 is practically the same as that of the stone collars. 1 As their name 

 indicates, the tripointed stones are characterized by their trifid form, 

 sometimes more or less obscure. Mason designates this group of 

 stone objects as " mammiform," a term specially applicable to 

 manv specimens, whereas all show the trifid form which has sug- 

 gested the designation tripointed. 



The three projections which characterize this form may be desig- 

 nated as follows : Supposing the object placed so as to rest on the 

 flat, slightly concave side, the vertical projection opposite this base 

 mav be called the conoid projection, and the other two points, or 

 those at each end of the base, the anterior and posterior projections. 

 In a comparative examination of tripointed stones it is convenient to 

 place the specimen so that the anterior projection points to the ob- 

 server's left hand." That surface which is turned to the observer 

 mav then be called the proximal, and the opposite the distal surface. 

 The flat, slightly concave side between the anterior and the posterior 

 projections upon which the object rests may be known as the base. 



In general appearance, as pointed out by Professor Mason, 3 these 

 " objects present in more than one-half of the specimens, the image 

 of a human figure lying on the stomach, with the face more or less 

 upturned, the mouth open, and the countenance wearing a tortured 

 look. The other end of the stone represents the lower extremities 

 of the body, so doubled up as to expose the soles of the feet against 

 the rump. On the back of the prostrate form is a conoid promi- 

 nence, beautifully rounded up, straight or slightly concave in outline 

 in front, a little convex in the rear, swelling out on one side slightly 

 more than on the other, and descending more or less lower than the 

 top of the head and of the rump so as to form anterior and posterior 

 furrows. The whole appearance cannot fail to remind the student 

 of the legend of Typh<eus killed by Jupiter with a flash of lightning 

 and buried beneath Mount /Etna." 



1 Pinart (op. cit.) gives their distribution as Porto Rico, Santo Domingo, 

 St [Thomas, and Vieques islands. 



1 In specimens of the fourth type, where no head is cut on the stone, the 

 same relative orientation may be obtained by placing the specimen so that 

 the apex of the conoid projection turns slightly to the left. 



3 Op. cit.. pp. 379-380. 



