106 BUREAU OF AMERICAN ETHNOLOGY [Bull. 193 



The deep pear-shaped bowl with high shoulder and incurving rim 

 is represented at He-4 by only one whole vessel and a number of 

 sherds. Sherds of this form assigned to the Pica-pica variety (others 

 were assigned to the Ortiga variety on the basis of frog handles and 

 design) were decorated either in continuous claw scrolls with alter- 

 nating purple and red claws, or with a series of closed arc elements 

 in black on a red ground. In all cases the area of decoration was 

 Hmited to the upper portion of the vessel between shoulder and lip. 

 The scroll technique often included use, in this case, of the "color 

 stop," i.e., the practice of leaving a portion of the claw blank so that 

 the ground color shows through (fig. 40, c), and the "color shift," i.e., 

 treating one section of the claw first in black and then in red or purple 

 (fig. 40, 6). 



Other decorative elements occurring in the Pica-pica variety 

 include the diamond in a ribbon motif (fig. 40, e, g), shared by the 

 Higo and Cuipo varieties and very similar to the triangle and zigzag 

 pattern of the Ortiga variety, and the color-filled chevron (fig. 40, d). 



Variations from other sites. — A collared jar with a fairly typical Pica- 

 pica variety claw scroll and what is probably a deer's head attached 

 to the shoulder is present in the Museum of the American Indian 

 (cat. No. 22/8378). 



Cyhnder jars on ring bases and with short outcurved collars have 

 been recovered at the El Hatillo site (Dr. Russell H. Mitchell, personal 

 communication). A Veraguas example of this shape, decorated with 

 spindle motifs in panels, is present in the Dade Collection at the 

 Museum of the American Indian (cat. No. 22/9448). 



Lothrop (1942, fig. 188, a-b) illustrates two high flare-collared 

 subglobular jars on ring bases from Cache 5 at Sitio Conte. Both 

 have plain red bodies, but the collar of one is decorated in the typical 

 base diamond motif of the El Hatillo site, and the other in the chevron 

 motif mentioned above. Another similarly shaped vessel with claw 

 scroll was recovered in Grave 26 at Sitio Conte (Lothrop, 1942, pi. 2,/; 

 fig. 192, c). 



Various bird designs associated with clawed elements or claw scrolls 

 have also occurred at other sites and could be placed equally well in 

 either this or the Higo variety. The Dade Collection includes two 

 pedestal plates (cat. Nos. 22/8350 and 22/9514), both with coral snake 

 rims and cuneiform slits in the base, which combine typical claw ele- 

 ments with profile bird patterns as the primary design. In both 

 specimens the tails are spread out like a turkey's or peacock's and 

 are depicted checkerboard style in alternate squares of red, ground 

 color, and purple. Both plates exhibit the fine fine feet of the Higo 

 variety. Provenience for these vessels is Hsted as Santiago, Veraguas, 

 and this same checkerboard motif occurred in Mound III at He-4 on 



