692 REPORT OF NATIONAL MUSEUM, 1888. 



counties in central Missouri. Nothing paleolithic. Accession 20329; catalogue Nos, 

 139196-139197. 



Dr. W. S. Newlou, Oswego, Kansas, February 8, 1888. Sends flint chips and frag- 

 ments of leaf-shaped implements, found on the surface near Oswego. Not paleo- 

 lithic. Accession 20181 ; catalogue No. 139021. 



Dr. W. S. Newlon, Oswego, Kansas, March 16, 1888. Sends two flint cores, sixteen 

 fragments of chipped implements, and one box of chips and flakes found on the sur- 

 face near Oswego. Not paleolithic. Accession 20460 ; catalogue Nos. 139376-139378. 



Dr. W. S. Newlon, Oswego, Kansas, May 7, 1888. Sends collection of flakes, arrow- 

 heads, shells, etc., from the site of an old Indian village at Oswego. Nothing paleo- 

 lithic. Accession 20581 ; catalogue Nos. 139440-139443. 



Dr. Henry W. Coe, Mandan, Dakota, February 27, 1888. Sends one rude cutting 

 implement from a mound near Maudan, Dakota. Not paleolithic. Accession 20253 ; 

 catalogue No. 139180. 



ABSTRACT OF LETTERS RECEIVED IN ANSWER TO CIRCULAR 36. 



Albert I. Phelps, Damariscotta, Maiue, February 14, 1838. Has fifteen rude imple- 

 ments. Material, feldspar and porphyry. Found at Revere, Massachusetts, (surface) 

 Penaquid Pond Damariscotta, Maine, and from shell-heap at Friendship, Maine. 

 The implements from Revere were associated with arrow-points, those from Peuaquid 

 Pond with rude arrow-points, scrapers, and fragments of pottery, those frooi the 

 shell heaps with flakes, arrow-points, bone implements, and fragments of pottery. 



George A. Boardman, Calais, Maine, February 9, 1888. Has no rude implements. 



James E. Knowlton, Damariscotta, Maine, May .5, 1888. Has one hundred and 

 forty-four rude implements of porphyry, jasper, quartz, etc.; found in Lincoln and 

 Knox Counties, on the coast between Kennebec and George Rivers, and on borders 

 of lakes and rivers further inland, also iu and beneath shell-heaps and associated 

 with the usual fragments and implements. Sends seventeen specimens from Lincoln 

 County, Maine. These belong to the shell-heaps, and may not be paleolithic. Acces- 

 sion 20612; catalogue Nos. 139448-139461. 



" The shell-heaps iu this region may be divided into two classes — the recent and 

 ancient. The recent shell-heaps contain objects of European make associated with 

 the implements of the stone age, and the rude pottery in these heaps has pounded 

 shells mixed in with the clay. Shell-heaps of this class where undisturbed are ar- 

 ranged in small mounds resembling cradle knolls and are not over three feet deep. 

 The shell-heaps of the older period vary in depth from three inches to thirty feet. 

 The pottery contained, in them has gravel, pounded rock, or mica, mixed in with the 

 clay ; it breaks with a shelly fracture, and was made inside a closely woven basket, 

 while that iu the recent heap breaks with a spiral fracture indicating that the coil- 

 method was employed in manufacturing it, although most of it, like that from the 

 older heaps, plainly shows the basket marks. With one exception objects of Euro- 

 pean make have never been found in the heaps of this class. Around and beneath 

 the shallow heaps is a black stratum formed of ashes and decomposed animal and 

 vegetable matter, while the deeper heaps are irregularly stratified from top to bottom. 

 Animal bones, pottery, amd implements are more frequently found in these strata 

 than in the shells. The decaying of the branches used by the savages as bedding, 

 the rubbish accumulating aronnd a savage habitation, and finally the decaying of 

 the habitations themselves have, I believe, contributed largely to the formation of 

 these strata in and about the shell-heaps." 



A. T. Gamage, Damariscotta, Maine, February 28, 1888. Sent five rude implements. 

 Material, black horustone and quartz. Found in shell-heaps .it McFarland's Cove, 

 on John's Bay in the town of Bristol, on the coast 1 to 6 feet d^ ep, with other stone 

 implements and pottery. Deposit accidental. Also one water-worn implement found 

 on the beach near shell-heap. He has explored the shell-heaps of the connty, and 



