182 



ANCIENT ART OF THE PROVINfE OF CHIRIQUI. 



the jjrecediiig figures can be traced back to tlie body of the creature 

 as a root, but there are many examples which seem to have come from 

 the delineation of a ])art of the CT'eaturn, as the head. font. eye. or 



>ter<J5!^ 



^s^^^ 



/siM 



Fig. ^Tfl. The scroll ami' fret derived from 



! of the alligator. 



scales — abbreviated representatives of the whole creature. Such 

 parts, assuming the role of radicals, pass also throiigh a series of mod- 

 ifications, ending in purely geniiietric devices in the manner indi- 

 cated in the following or (< .uit li sciies . .f examples (Fig. 280). In the 

 first cut we have what appears tn l»e 1he leg and foot of the favorite 

 reptile, and followino- this are nther forms that seem to refer to the 



■LT.LT<1 l=l|=3r=l 



o d 



Fig. 280. Devices derived from drawings of parts of the life form. 



same feature. Additional examples are shown in Figs. 381 and 28-^, 

 which, while they doiibtless arose more or less directly from the life 

 form, are not so readily traceable through less conventional antece- 

 dents. The first forms part of the incised ornament of a small vase 

 or needlecase and the second is a section of the zonal ornament of 

 the tripod cup illustrated in Fig. 20:5, by reference to which it will be 



Fig. 282. Devices representing 

 the markings of a reptile'.s body. 



;epn that the zone of devices serves to connect the head and the tail 

 if the reptile, wliieh ;ii-e modeled as a i)art of the vase ; the devices 



