HOLMES] VESSELS IMITATING ANIMAL FORMS 95 



two examples of gourd-.shai^ed vessels from Arkansas are given. The 

 Tennessee forms are fully illustrated by General Tliruston (work cited). 



Plates XX. XXI, xxii are intended to illustrate the treatment of 

 animal forms by the ancient potter. The aniflials imitated eover a wide 

 range, ineluding probably a large percentage of the more important 

 creatures of the Mississippi valley. The manner of applying the 

 forms to the vessel is also extremely varied, making a detailed account 

 quite impossible. The degree of realism is far from uniform. In many 

 cases birds, fishes, and ([uadrupeds are modeled with such fidelity 

 that a particular species is forcibly suggested, hut the larger number 

 of the imitations are rude and unsatisfactory. Many forms are 

 grotesque, sonietimes intentionally so. In plate xx are several illus- 

 trations of the manner of applj'ing bird forms to the elaboration and 

 embellishment of bowls. Specimens (/ and h ai-e from southeastern 

 Missouri. The peculiar form of head seen in a is found all over the 

 lower Missi.s.sippi and (nilf regions, while the example c has the head 

 turned inward, and resembles a vulture or buzzard. In d two heads 

 are attached, both grotesque, but having features suggestive of l)irds. 

 A finely modeled and finished bird-shaped bottle is shown in .'. It is 

 finished in red, black, and white, the wings being striped with red and 

 white. The heads in h and /'appear to have human features, but it is 

 not improbable that the conception was of a l)ird or at most of a 

 bird-man compound. 



A very striking specimen is shown in plate xxi^c, the neck of the 

 bird l)eing unusually pi'olonged. In h the bird is placed on its liack, 

 the head and feet forming the handles of the vessel. The wings are 

 rudely represented by incised lines on the body of the vessel. Other 

 bird foi'ms are shown in plate xxii. The delineation of the painted 

 specimen c is unusually realistic, and the general appearance recalls 

 very forcibl\- the painted owl vases of the Tusayan tribes and the 

 more ancient occupants of the valley of the Rio Colorado. 



The usual manner of treating forms of fish is shown in plate xxiii 

 a, h, and c. The exceptional application of the fish form to a bottle is 

 illustrated in </. The frog or toad was a favorite suliject for the 

 aboriginal potter, and two ordinary examples are presented in t^and /! 

 The originals of g and h are not readih' made out. 



The use of mammalian forms in vase elaboration is illustrated in 

 plates XXI^' and xxv. There can be but little doubt that the potter 

 had a deer in mind when plate xxiv« was modeled, while h suggests 

 the opossum. But the originals for the specimens presented in plate 

 xxv are not readily identified, and the head in e is decidedly grotesque, 

 although it is not impossible that the particular species of animal 

 intended in this and in other cases may finally be made out. 



Plates XXVI, xxvii. and xxviii serve to illustrate some of the varied 

 methods of empkning the iuunan figure in ceramic art. In plate xxvi 

 five bottles are shown; k represents the entire figure, and h the entire 



