24 
attachment and stayed there. Probably these people were 
fishermen as well as hunters. 
The lecturer was fully aware that his theory with regard to 
this unusual specimen might meet with some questioning, and he 
read a letter from one who did not agree with his suggestion. 
The contention of the writer was that the body when buried 
would be in the flesh, and the limpet could not have lived to 
make attachment until the flesh had perished, while the position 
of the skeletons precluded the idea that they were denuded of 
flesh before burial. The writer went on to suggest that the skull 
belonged to some drowned sailor, which, having been found on the 
beach by some pious aboriginal, had been given decent burial. 
If this were so, he thought, it would throw a very interesting light 
on the feelings of these ancient people on the subject of burial. 
In defence, however, the lecturer, while saying that one must 
not dogmatise in such a case, suggested that when the flesh 
disintegrated, thus placing the shell a trifle apart from the jaw, 
the nature of the fine sand in which the interment was made 
would be such that it would filter in and fill it up, so that most 
probably a thin layer of sand did intervene between the shell and 
the jaw. A future explanation might, however, make light of any 
of these theories, and the lecturer recalled how years ago it 
obtained in some of the text books that the ancient Egyptians 
were skilled in the art of filling teeth with gold. Many years 
after the theory had been accepted, the mummy on which the 
theory was based (owing to the evidence of gold on its front teeth) 
was further examined, and a pen-knife was tried on the gold 
surface, with the result that it proved to be a small portion of 
gold leaf with which the lips of certain mummies were decorated. 
The portion had adhered to the damp tooth, and as the lips had 
further shrivelled, the supposed gold filling was the more 
revealed. 
Taking up the thread of his subject the lecturer said that 
quaint water-bottles filled with water were placed in Peruvian 
graves. He passed one specimen round among the Members, 
and read an extract from Zhe Connoisseur of October, 1got, 
describing these vessels :—‘‘ These were supposed to contain the 
fluid and solid refreshment that was to sustain on their journey 
those destined for the country ‘from whose bourne no traveller 
returns,’ and were buried with chiefs and other important 
personages. The artistic spirit of the artificers seems to have 
taken the direction of perverting the human form into all kinds of 
monstrosities but it is noteworthy that they preserved a facial 
type, which may, no doubt, be taken as to some extent 
representative of that which existed in their time and locality. 
It is worth noting that in several instances the maize discovered 
in the vases has continued in such good condition that it has 
germinated on being planted.” The lecturer added that Mrs. 
