72 JACKSON, Use of Coivry -shells for Currency, Amulets, etc. 



to conform to the illustration is C. vttellus, an Indo- 

 Pacific species. This suggestion, however, can only be a 

 tentative one, as comparison with the original specimen 

 mav reveal other distinguishing characters not visible in 

 the illustration. 



A further interesting feature is seen in Putnam's Plate 

 (Plate xiii , Fig. 47-51) in the use that was made by the 

 Californians of cowry-shells for personal adornment. The 

 serrated lips of these shells were cut out and perforated 

 at one end for suspension as pendants. Earlier in this 

 paper reference is made to the discovery of the complete 

 outer lip of a large cowry {C. tigris) in prehistoric pit- 

 dwellings in the South of England (atitea, p. 11) 



The discovery of cowries in pre-Columbian graves in 

 Ecuador is recorded by M. H. Saville. In his " Antiqui- 

 ties of Manabi, Ecuador," 19 " this writer reports the finding 

 of a shell of the cowry-type, which had a hole drilled in 

 the top, and a piece of pottery was fitted to the under 

 part by means of some kind of gum. This shell, which is 

 figured by Saville (Plate lxvii., Fig. 5) as Cypres a cervineita 

 (a Panamic species), was found with a human skeleton in 

 mound 3 at Cerro Jaboncillo. 



19S Contributions to South American Archaeology, N.V., 19 10, vol. ii., 

 pp. 48 and 177. 



