BOLMBB.] 



WEAPONS TWEEZERS. 211 



use of shells as club-heads by the tribes of Florida. In his valuable 

 paper on the archaeological collections of the National Museum he gives 

 a very good description, which I copy in full : 



" It further appears that the Florida Indians applied shells of the 

 Busycon perversum as clubs or casse-tetes by adapting them to be used 

 with a handle, which was made to pass transversely through the shell. 

 This was effected by a hole 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 the 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."' 



Mention of these objects is also made by Knight in a recent pam- 

 phlet, the method of hafting being illustrated.^ 



Professor "Wyman, in the Naturalist for 1878, describes and illustrates 

 an object of this class, made from a Busycon, which he is inclined to 

 regard as one of the conch-shells said to have been used by the Indians 

 for trumpets. It is presumably from one of the shell heaps on the St. 

 Johns River, Fla.' 



In Fig. 4, Plate XXVII, I illustrate one of the National Museum 

 specimens. The posterior point is much reduced by grinding, the apex 

 and nodes are somewhat battered, and the whole surface of the shell is 

 worn and discolored. There are about a dozen specimens in the National 

 collection; in nearly all cases they are made from heavy walled speci- 

 mens of the Busycon perversum, and range from three to eight inches 

 in length. They are described as coming from three localities, St. Johns 

 River, Clearwater River, and Sarasota Bay, Fla. All were probably 

 obtained from shell heaps, and although ancient, two of the specimens 

 still retain rude and insignificant-looking handles of wood. 



It wiU be seen from the foregoing that shells have actually been em- 

 ployed as weapons, a use, however, which would probably never have 

 been suggested but for the great scarcity of stone along the southern 

 coast. 



TWEEZERS. 



A rather novel use of sheUs by the ancient Indians is mentioned by 

 early writers. The two valves of small mussels or clams were made to 

 do service as tweezers for puUiug out their hair. 



'Ran : Archaeological Collection of the National Museum, page 67. 

 ♦ Knight : Savage Weapons at the Centennial Exhibition, page 10. 

 » Wyman: American Naturalist for October, 1878, p. 453. 



