334 ILLINOIS STATE ACADEMY OF SCIENCE 



These shells are found on both sides of the Floridan 

 peninsula, their distribution including the east coast of 

 Texas. The finest specimens, however, occur in southern 

 Florida and in the West Indies. 



The Hopewell people used these large shells (some of 

 which are larger than any recent specimens .the author 

 has seen) for dippers and perhaps for drinking vessels. 

 The interior whorls are usually removed, leaving only 

 the large outer or body whorl. Busycon perversa is also 

 of large size and seems to have been used as a dipper. 

 Of these large shells, several were found with skeletons. 

 The following were noted : 



Cassis madagascariensis with skeleton 241 in mound 

 8; skeleton 192, in mound 4; as ear ornaments 8 inches 

 long with skeleton 281 in mound 25. Cypraea exanthema 

 with skeleton 191 in mound 4. Amblema costata with 

 skeleton 173 in mound 20. A fragment of Cyclonaias tu- 

 berculata was observed with other mussel fragments. 



It is noteworthy that in mounds in Calhoun County, 

 Illinois, the large Cassis madagascagiensis occurs and is 

 the same form as found in the Hopewell Mounds. This 

 might indicate a different route of barter from that of 

 the Cahokia group, possibly overland from Indiana and 

 Ohio. That this large shell should be absent from the 

 Cahokia Mounds is significant. Beads of Anculosa 

 praerosa are more abundant in the Calhoun County 

 mounds than in the Cahokia group. 



The builders of the Hopewell mounds used shell beads, 

 made of both marine and fresh water shells, to a marked 

 degree, thousands of these being in the collection. Baro- 

 uque pearls were also in demand, judging by the number 

 of these in the collection which had been made into beads. 

 It is probable that valuable free pearls were used also. 

 None of these have as yet been found in the Cahokia 

 Mounds. 



It would be of interest to both Malacologists and Eth- 

 nologists if the shells found in various tumuli left by 

 aboriginal people could be listed accurately and the uses 

 of the shells indicated. The present paper is a contribu- 

 tion toward that end. All of the material listed from 

 the Cahokia Mounds is in the Museum of Natural His- 

 tory of the University of Illinois. 



