By the Rev. W.-C. Plenderleath. 65 
be connected with the modern verb to snub, which comes from a very 
old English word sneap, apparently of Scandinavian origin, and 
meaning to pinch or nip. But why the junior members of this 
particular calling should be supposed to be more pinched, nipped, 
or snubbed, than those of other like callings, I am unable to say. 
I will conclude my jottings by adverting briefly to the well-known 
animal mounds in America, which may be said to bear a certain 
sort of analogy to our various incised figures, though not a very close 
one. These are of considerable number, and occur chiefly (though 
by no means exclusively) in the States of Wisconsin and Ohio. 
They vary in height above the soil from 2ft. to 6ft., and the largest 
of them is stated to be 300ft. in length. They represent not only 
alligators, buffaloes, beavers, &c., but also men, birds, and other 
objects, one of which looks exactly like a barbed arrow-head. Mr, 
Lapham, to whose work on the Antiquities of Wisconsin I am 
indebted for the outlines of Figs. 5 and 6, does not doubt but that 
they were all constructed by the Indians, and are of the character 
of totems. Dr. Phené, however, who has carefully investigated the 
subject, is of opinion that some of them were meant to represent 
deities, while others were sepulchral, and some, again, intended as 
landmarks. A few typical forms are given onp. 68. Of these the 
alligator mound (Fig. 4) measures 250ft. x 120ft., not including 
the heap of calcined stones projecting from the body. The beaver 
_ mound (Fig. 5), 140ft. x 45ft. And the buffalo mound (Fig. 6), 
: 
108ft. x 52ft. I may add that these mounds are represented as 
white upon black in my woodcuts for clearness’ sake, but that it is 
not intended to convey thereby the idea that they are differentiated 
in point of colour from the surrounding surface in the way that our 
white horses are, this not being, so far as I am aware, the case. 
: VOL. XXV.-——-NO. LXXII. F 
