224 ANIMAL MOUNDS OUT OF WISCONSIN. 



graceful curves, the feet projecting back and forward, and 

 the tail, with its gradual slope, so acutely pointed, that it 

 was impossible to ascertain precisely where it terminated. 

 The body was fifty-six feet in length, and the tail two hun- 

 dred and fifty ; the height six feet." This group of mounds 

 is now, alas, covered 4 with buildings. "A dwelling-house 

 stands on the body of the turtle, and a Catholic church is 

 built upon the tail." 



"But," says Mr. Lapham, "the most remarkable collec- 

 tion of lizards and turtles yet discovered is on the school 

 section, about a mile and a half south-east from the village 

 of Pewaukee. This consists of seven turtles, two lizards, 

 four oblong mounds, and one of the remarkable excavations 

 before alluded to. One of the turtle mounds, partially 

 obliterated by the road, has a length of four hundred and 

 fifty feet, being nearly double the usual dimensions. Three 

 of them are remarkable for their curved tails, a feature here 

 first observed." 



In several places a very curious variation occurs. The 

 animals, with the usual form and size, are represented not in 

 relief, but in intaglio ; not by a mound, but by an excavation. 



The few " animal mounds " which have been observed out 

 of Wisconsin differ in many respects from the ordinary type. 

 Near Granville, in Ohio, on a high spur of land, is an earth- 

 work known in the neighbourhood as the " Alligator." It 

 has a head and body, four sprawling legs, and a curled tail 

 The total length is two hundred and fifty feet ; the breadth 

 of the body forty feet, and the length of the legs thirty-six 

 feet. "The head, shoulders, and rump are more elevated 

 than the other parts of the body, an attempt having evidently 

 been made to preserve the proportions of the object copied." 

 The average height is four feet, at the shoulders six. Even 

 more remarkable is the great serpent in Adams County, 

 Ohio. It is situated on a high spur of land, which rises 



