SMITHSONIAN ARCHAEOLOGICAL COLLECTION. 



(57 



pierced in the outer wall of the last whorl in such a manner as to be somewhat 

 to the left of the columella, while a notch in the outer lip, corresponding to 

 this hole, confined the handle or stick between the outer edge of the lip and 

 the inner edge of the columella. The anterior end of the canal, broken off 

 until the more solid part was reached, was then brought to a cutting edge, 

 nearly in the plane of the aperture. A hole was also made in the posterior 

 surface of the spire behind the carina in the last whorl, evidently for receiving 

 a ligature by means of which the shell was more firmly lashed to the handle. 



252 



UTENSILS OF SHELL. 



Shells prepared in this manner have been found on the shore of Sarasota Bay 

 in Florida, a locality where stone for manufacturing axes is wanting. There 

 are several of these modified shells in the collection. 



California has furnished a number of well-wrought fish-hooks, made of the 

 shell of Haliotis, which strongly resemble articles of the same description in 

 use among the islanders of the Pacific (Fig. 250, Santa Cruz Island). The 

 Californian coast-tribes, it should be stated, employed shells in various ways, 

 chiefly, however, in the production of objects of personal adornment, which 

 will be considered hereafter. That they utilized the unaltered shells of Hali- 

 otis, Cardium, Pecten, Patella, Spondylus, and Panopwa as the receptacles 



