252 BUREiAU OF AMERICAN ETHNOLOGY [Bull. 137 



The wing of a red bird (cardinall) was sometimes worn in 

 the headdress. 



An owl skin was often carried by the Creek medicine man or 

 priest as a symbol of his calling. 



Whales and porpoises are mentioned as food by one or two writers. 



Snakes were eaten by some tribes, their fangs were employed by 

 doctors in scarification (Lawson, 1860, p. 363), and the Virginia 

 doctors ornamented their heads with snake skins stuffed with moss, 

 with the rattles of rattlesnakes, and even wore live green snakes. 

 There is a mention of the use of "vipers' teeth" as arrow points. 



Turtles and terrapin were eaten and the shells of the latter were 

 turned into rattles, which women wore at dances fastened round 

 their calves. 



Alligators were generally eaten where they were available. 



There are also one or two notices regarding the eating of lizards. 



We have note of the following fish used as food: Alewife, blue- 

 fish, buffalo fish, eel, herring, mullet, plaice, perch, ray, red horse, 

 sardine, sturgeon, trout, tunny, turbot, rockfish, pickerel ( Yuchi) , "dog 

 fish" (Yuchi), several kinds of bass (Yuchi), white garfish, wolf fish, 

 trunk fish, carp, sucker, and catfish. (Names as given ; the true plaice 

 is European.) Points for fish spears were made out of the sting of 

 the string ray. 



They ate crabs, crawfish, and lobsters, and made spear points out 

 of the tails of horseshoe crabs. 



Among shell fish we have mention of clams, mussels, oysters, 

 cockles, and "snails" as used for food, but the significance of the last 

 term is uncertain. Some of the clams and periwinkles have particu- 

 lar importance because beads were made from them which not only 

 came to be widely used as ornaments, but attained the status of media 

 of exchange. Larger beads were made from the conch shell; a few 

 very large ones were worn on the crown of the head, as ear pendants 

 in the form of spikes, and as breast ornaments or gorgets. This shell 

 was also used in serving the black drink, and it was mounted on a 

 handle and used as a hoe. Beads were used all over the clothine: 

 as ornaments, on the headdress, to bind braids of hair, in ears and 

 noses, wrapped around necks, and on other parts of the body. Pearls, 

 obtained most often from fresh-water mussels, were also widely 

 used as ornaments about neck, ears, etc., and were insignia of wealth. 

 Marginella and Olivella shells were transformed into beads almost 

 entire, except that the inner ends of the whorls were rubbed off in 

 order to let a cord through for stringing. 



Among other articles of diet are mentioned wasps in the comb 

 and even honey, though the honeybee proper arrived with Europeans. 

 We also hear of the eating of beetles, locusts, fleas, and lice. 



