ZOOLOGICAL SOCIETY BULLETIN 



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9— MARSHALL ISLAND NATIVE 

 Wearing -i Diodon sk.n hetmel . After U xander 



Chronologically we next come in 1890 to 

 .lames Edge-Partington and Charles Hrapi- 

 who published at Manchester, England, in 

 two volumes their very interesting Album of 

 the Weapons, Tools. Ornaments, and Artieles of 

 Dress of the Natives of the Pacific Islands. 

 In Vol. II. page 170. is a figure of a native of 

 the Kingsmill Group wearing a cap of fish skin. 

 There is no descriptive text and as the figure is 

 not very distinct, it will not be reproduced here. 



Our next authority is James M. Alexander, 

 whose book The Islands of the Pacific was 

 published in 1895. To face page 222 is a plate, 

 the lower half of which, shows a Micronesian 

 wearing a dried Diodon helmet. Comparison 

 with Wilkes's figure shows that Alexander has 

 copied it without giving any credit whatever. 

 To face page 230 is another plate the lower half 

 of which is labelled "Marshall Island Warrior." 

 This man also wears a Diodon helmet. This 

 figure is given as number nine of the present 

 paper. 



Our next reference is to a book 5 by Fernand 

 Hartzer, a Catholic missionary in the South 

 Seas. Under date of 1900, he writes that the 







.II.HKRT ISLAM) WARRIOB 



Gilbert Islanders, go into battle variously armed 

 while "A casque, fashioned out of the dried skin 

 of a large fish with strong spiny scales, sur- 

 mounts the head as a helmet." On this same 

 page is a pen and ink sketch showing this helmet 

 and to face page 2 t.S is a photograph of a native 

 in full armor. This latter figure is reproduced 

 herein as figure ten. 



Few men of the present day have a wider or 

 more accurate acquaintance with the South Seas 

 and with the customs of the people living therein 

 than Dr. Alfred G. Mayor. In an article. Men 

 of the Mid-Pacific, in the Scientific Monthly for 

 January 1916, Dr. Mayor has an illustration 

 showing a warrior of Tari Tari Island, Gilbert 

 Islands, armed with weapons beset on the edges 

 with sharks' teeth, and having on his head a 

 helmet of dried Diodon skin. Through Dr. 

 Mayor's kindness, this illustration is repro- 

 duced as figure eight. 



Study of the localities noted above shows that 

 the use of dried Diodon skins for helmets is con- 



5 Hartzer, Fernand. Les lies Blanches (Archipels 

 Gilbert et Ellice) das Mers du Suit. Paris, 1900. 



