204 ART IN SHELL OF THE ANCIENT AMERICANS. 



TIi£ edge is even and sharp, and but slightly rounded ; the beveled 

 faces are quite symmetrical, and meet at an angle of about 35°; the faces 

 are curved slightly, followi"g the original curvature of the sbeM, and 

 the sides are evenly dressed and taper gently toward the upper end 

 which shows some evidence of battering. The surface of the specimen 

 is slightly chalky from decay. It has been made from a Stromhus (/igas, 

 or some equally massive shell. It was collected at Orange Bluff, Fla., 

 by T. S. Barber. A profile view of the same specimen is ijresented in Fig. 

 2. The specimen shown in Fig. 3 was found in Madison County, Ky., 

 and is the only one in the national collection from the Mississippi Valley. 

 It was obtained from a mound, but in what relation to the human re- 

 mains I have not learned. It is fashioned much like the specimen just 

 described; it is one and a half inches in width at the upper end, and 

 two inches wide near the cutting edge. It has also been made from a 

 very massive shell. 



Fig. 4 illustrates a specimen from St. Michael's Parish, Barbadoes, 

 West Indies. It is made from the basal portion of a Busycon perversum. 

 The handle is curved and neatly rounded, and the edge is beveled or 

 sharpened on the inside onlj". 



In the national collection there are about twenty of these objects; 

 six are from Tampa, Fla.; four of these are fragmentary; the remaining 

 two are short and triangular, and have been made, one from a Busycon 

 perversum, the other from a Busycon or Strombits. The cutting edge is 

 wide and well sharpened. Two are from Cedar Keys, Fla., and are 

 made from thin-walled specimens of the Busycon perversum. The larger 

 is six and one-half inches in length by three in width toward the base; 

 the other is about one-half as large. Both are rudely' made, and show 

 the effects of use. Five came from East Pass, Choctawhatchie Bay, 

 Fla. Two of them are fragmentary; one of the entire specimens is 

 very well made, and has a regularly beveled, oblique edge, while another 

 is remarkable in having a curiously worn edge, which is deeply serrated 

 by use or weathering. The majority of these specimens are from ancient 

 shell heaps. Three are from St. Michael's Parish, Barbadoes, West In- 

 dies, one of which has already been described. 



Professor Wyman, in the Naturalist for October, 1868, illustrates two 

 of these celt-like implements from the fresh-water shell heaps near St. 

 Johns, Fla. One is made from a triangular piece cut from a Busycon 

 carica, so as to comprise a portion of the rostrum, which serves as a 

 handle, and a portion of a swollen part of the body, which terminates 

 in the cutting edge of the tool. The sides and apex are smoothed and 

 rounded, while the base is regularly rounded and ground to an edge 

 like that of a gouge, but with the bevel on the inside. 



This author states that another specimen, obtained at Old Enterprise, 

 shows clearly that it was detached from the shell bj' first cutting a 

 groove and then breaking off the fragment. He also gives two views 

 of a small shell celt which, from the exterior markings and the thick 



