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A STUDY OF CHIRIQUIAN ANTIQUITIES. 



this figurine, insisting that it is not a crayfish but a cuttlefish (Tinten-fiscli). I differ 

 from both these writers and believe it to be a composite figure, with alligator 

 head and body and bird wings and tail. Two pairs of the "antenna" coils re- 

 present the curling ends of alligator jaws, between which the teeth are plainly 

 visible, the lower as well as the upper jaw being coiled on itself. These are alli- 

 gator-head motives very much conventionalized. Each is attached to what Holmes 

 calls an antenna, which in fact is a conventionalized alligator body projecting 

 from the mouth of the figurine. The avian characters are perfectly distinct. The 

 alligator is recognizable in the longitudinal raised lines and nodes on the back, 

 the projecting eyes and sudden rise of the naso-frontal region, the curve of the 

 back, and long muzzle surmounted by a suspension ring that takes the place of the 

 recurved snout (see profile). Had it not been thought necessary to emphasize the 

 latter feature, this ring would have been placed ventrally, where, if intended only 



as a means for suspension, it rightfully belongs. 

 Subsequent illustrations will bear me out in these 

 conclusions. Figures with mixed attributes were 

 the favorites, whether intended for ornamental or 

 ceremonial purposes. 



A gold figurine in the Metropolitan Museum 

 (fig. 332) belongs to the same class. The figure 

 as a whole, like the preceding, is a conventional- 

 ized alligator. The tail however is forked, and in 

 place of wings there are four legs, each terminating 

 in a conventionalized alligator head instead of a foot. 

 From the mouth protrude two alligators, their dorsal 

 spines resembling bird beaks. The heads of these 

 two alligators are highly characteristic, except that 

 the teeth are represented by pellets. The two bodies 

 resemble the Mexican feather-snake, as illustrated in 

 the ancient codices. The prominence in the region 

 of the eye is very marked in all six of these con- 

 ventionalized heads. Both of these figurines should be compared with three 

 specimens from the valley of Rio General, Costa Rica, two of which form part 

 of a collection (gift of Frau Dr. Mertens) recently acquired by the Royal Ethno- 

 graphical Museum of Berlin. 1 The larger one resembles figure 331, except that 

 the hindlegs of the alligator are retained, the wings replacing the forelegs only. 

 The other is comparable to figure 332, but no conventionalized alligators protrude 

 from the mouth ; and the two forks of the tail are differentiated into alligators, 

 which, like the back of the parent figure, are ornamented with spines and scales. 

 The most perfect link in this chain of alligator forms is a specimen (also from 

 Rio General) in the Keith collection a realistic alligator with two conventionalized 

 alligators protruding from the mouth and two other similar ones taking the place 

 of the tail. The parent figure and the four attached to it are all decorated with 



Fig. 332. Gold figurine ornamented 

 with alligator motives. Metropolitan 

 Museum, New York. '/' 



1 E. Seler. Zeitschr. f. Ethnol., XLI, Taf. VI (bottom row at the center), 1909. 



