94 PROCEEDINGS OF THE NATIONAL MUSEUM VOL. 92 
Artifacts of the type in question are by no means new to archeology. 
Typically, they consist of a section of bison rib bearing a series of 
subparallel transverse lines cut across one surface—usually the ex- 
ternal or convex side (pl. 7,@). The lines, 10 to 30 or more in number, 
are unequally spaced at intervals of 2 to 10 mm. In some specimens 
lines run into one another or fork; or shorter lines along one edge were 
carried only part way across the bone. In a few instances there are 
notches along the edge of the rib, with no cuts on the flat surfaces. In | 
the Great Plains, scored or notched bones other than the rib have not 
been found in any number, though several specimens made from the 
large neural spine of the bison are known (pls. 7, ¢; 10, d,g). Still 
less common are scored scapulae trimmed to a paddlelike form (pl. 
GO) 
It has been customary to designate specimens of the type just de- 
scribed as tallies or tally bones, recording devices, musical rasps, or, 
noncommittally so far as function is concerned, merely as scored bones. 
Sounding rasps of wood, and apparently also of bone, were known 
to the Pueblo Indians in recent times (Stevenson, 1883, p. 394; Hodge, 
1920, p. 187). The specimen figured by Stevenson (1883, fig. 561) 
consists of a stick with short notches to which was attached a deer 
or sheep scapula intended to be drawn across the notches. Hodge 
(1920, pl. 43) illustrates a number of deer scapulae with short notches 
on their ridged parts; where these show wear along the ridge he 
identifies them as sounding rasps. Other pieces lacking signs of wear 
along the cut part are designated tallies. Only one of the Hawikuh 
specimens (Hodge, 1920, pl. 44, e) has longer lines comparable to the 
rib implements of the Plains, and here there is no evidence of wear 
by rasping. At Pecos, Kidder (1932, p. 252) unearthed both notched 
scapulae similar to the Hawikuh pieces and transversely scored rib 
fragments of the Plains type. In all these “the notches are greatly 
abraded by the friction of the rasping stick, and there is little doubt 
that the specimens served as rattles rather than as tally bones.” Rasps 
of notched sticks were also in common use by tribes of the Plateau 
region [Spinden, 1908, p. 230 (Nez Percé) ; 'Teit, 1930, pp. 164, 278, 
386 (Coeur d’Alene, Okanagon, Flathead) ]. 
We have been unable to find any record that the Pawnee, Wichita, 
or other tribes of the central Great Plains and adjacent Missouri Valley 
used a musical instrument of this type.? As already suggested, the 
2 According to Roberts (1936, p. 24, fig. 5), the notched stick or bone rasp without 
resonator occurred among the Omaha and neighboring plains tribes. No supporting evi- 
dence is offered, nor are we able to learn the exact nature of the bone rasps in question. 
Fletcher and La Flesche (1911, p. 371) do not include the type in their discussion of the 
musical instruments of the Omaha. 
