190 



ISLAND CULTURE AREA OF AMERICA 



I ETH. ANN. 34 



34-37. A glance at the first of these shows that it belongs to the 

 type called by the late Prof. (). T. Mason ^' the " right-handed va- 

 riety of the slender oval group." 



This collar is made of a hard, light-gray andesite or diorite, with 

 surface fairlj^ smooth but not finely polished. Its general form is 

 not uidike other examples of the slender ovate type. The special 

 differences are found in the ornamentation of the decorated panel 

 border and the modification of the pi'ojection or Imob into an 



animal head. It measures 15 and 11 

 inches in greater and lesser diam- 

 eters, respectively. 



The undecorated panel shows no 

 exceptional features, except that 

 the rim is pinched midway of its 

 length into a triangular projection, 

 as shown in figure 34, but which 

 could be better seen from one side. 

 A slightly raised band extends 

 around the collar, just below the so- 

 called boss or elbow, joining the 

 upper and the lower margin of the 

 decorated panel border. As will 

 be pointed out presently, the head 

 carved on the panel border is very 

 well made and instructive. 



Lateral and dorsal representations 

 of the knob modified into a head are 

 .shown in figures 35 and 36. 

 Before the author had examined the Strube specimen he was of 

 the impression, from sketches of the objects, one of which was kindly 

 sent to him several years ago by Herr Strube, and the other by Prof. 

 W. H. Holmes, who saw the specimen in the Bremen Museum, that 

 the head replacing the projection or knob represents that of a serpent, 

 but he is now able to point out a more striking resemblance to the head 

 of some other reptile, a conclusion reached mainly from comparative 

 studies of similar heads fountl in some of the three-pointed stone idols 

 of the first type, figured elsewhere.''* 



The three-pointed idols with heads like those of the Strube cellar 

 also possess legs, which would prohibit their identification as serpent 

 idols and would weigh against acceptance of the opinion that the 

 head on the collar represents a snake, were it not for the fact that 

 primitive man is not always consistent in fashioning his images;. 



" Latimer CoUection of Antiquities from Porto Rico in the National Museum at Wash- 

 ington, Smithsonian Report for 1876. 



» Aborigines of Porto Rico, Twint.v-flfth Ann. Kept. Bur. Amer. Ethn.. pl8. xxxix, «, 

 a' ; XM, 6, c; XLU,-a, i; xliii, n, a'. 



-'I'lie Strulje stone collar (Bre- 

 men JIuseum), 



