52 C DP-SHAPED AND OTHER LAPIDAEIAN SCULPTUEES. 



smooth as the cavities of another smaller specimen in the collection of the 

 Society of Natural Histor}^ In one cup, he further observes, is a central 

 depression about one-fourth of an inch in depth and of equal diameter. 

 This central pit seems to have been made by means of some sharp-pointed 

 instrument. But for this peculiarity the cup resembles the others excavated 

 on the block. To judge from Dr. Hill's description, the feature just alluded 

 to is not confined to a single cup, but is likewise noticed in others. 



On one side of the block, says Pi'ofessov Mickelborough, are some 

 grooves four or five inches long, and likewise of artificial origin. They 

 have the appearance of being worn down by rubbing continuously in one 

 direction. The diameter of the grooves is equal to that of the cujis, inso- 

 much that a cylindrical stone applied in the direction of its longitudinal 

 axis would have produced the grooves, and its end, by rotation, the cup- 

 shaped cavities. 



The coiTespondents who have furnished me with the material for this 

 description offer no definite opinions as to the use of this remarkable cup- 

 stone. Dr. Hill can think of no practical purpose to which the cups might 

 have been applied b}' those who excavated them, unless they served "as 

 means for imparting information to their friends." Similar views, as will 

 be seen, have been advanced in Europe with reference to the large cup- 

 stones in that part of the world. 



Dr. Hill speaks of two much larger sandstone boulders, one with 

 twenty nine and the other with thirt3'-seven cups, which he saw near the 

 bank of the Ohio, a few miles below Manchester, in Adams County, Ohio. 

 No further particulars as to their appearance are given; but Dr. Hill 

 intends to examine them again. He thinks it very diflicult to remove 

 them. 



In October, 1878, the Rev. John J. McCook, of Hartford, Connecticut, 

 addressed to the Smithsonian Institution a letter in which he describes a 

 cupped granite boulder of large size, lying on the edge of the cliff not far 

 from his cottage at Niantic, in New London County, Connecticut. A scale- 

 drawing of the boulder, here reproduced in half-size, and without any 

 artistic embellishment, as Fig. 43, accompanied his account, of which 1 

 ffive the foUowinor extract almost in his own words. 



