Manchester Memoirs, Vol. Ix. (1916), No. 8- 21 



Lumholtz was unable to procure any shell that had 

 actually been used at the feast, but he found one in the 

 god-house of the Sun (Tayau') in Teaka'ta, which, 

 according to his informants, was smaller than those used. 

 The species is Murex (Phyllonotus) radix Gmelin, from 

 the South Pacific Ocean, west coast of America. In 

 Huichol it is called Ku'ra. Much difficulty was ex- 

 perienced in buying the specimen ; the man who had 

 deposited it, and who was one of Lumholtz' party, at first 

 absolutely refused to part with it. Although left some 

 years ago, it still remained to him a valuable prayer for 

 life. Through the acquirement of this specimen, which 

 was the only one seen in the god-houses, Lumholtz 

 learned of the interesting custom of blowing into shells 

 just related. The natural markings on this shell sym- 

 bolize to the Huichols grains of corn and water. 



Probably the most remarkable occurrence of the use 

 of shell-trumpets in the New World is afforded by 

 Mexico. Von Martens 84 refers to the finding, by Seler, of 

 prehistoric trumpets made from Fasciolaria gigas m and 

 Turbinella scolymus from the Caribbean Sea, and Fascio- 

 laria princeps from the Pacific Ocean, in several parts of 



Mexico. 



From ancient Mexican manuscripts we learn that 



conch-shell trumpets entered largely into the religious 



ceremonial of the Aztecs. 



In Seler's description of Codex Vaticanus, No. 3,773, 



reference is made to the blowing of shell-horns in the 



temples at midnight, as a signal for the priests to arise 



and mortify themselves, to sing, and then go in procession 



to the bath. 86 



34 Von Martens, op. cit., p. 485. 



85 Probably F. gigantea is meant here. 



86 Edward Seler, "Codex Vaticanus, No. 3,773 (Codex Vaticanus B), 

 an old Mexican pictorial manuscript in the Vatican Library/' Berlin and 

 London, 1902-3, English translation by A. H. Keane. 



