56 Shells as evidence of the Migrations. 



The Dresden Codex also shows the snail associated with 

 the gods of birth, and of the moon (the god D, of 

 Schellas), of death, and of the sun, and in the month Mol, 

 the eighth of the Maya year. It is widely acknowledged 

 that the snail is the symbol of birth among the Central 

 American people.*^ 



According to Spinden,"" " the snail, so-called, is repre- 

 sented in combination with the human form much more 

 often than the tortoise, and occurs not only on the build- 

 ings at Chitchen Itza . . but also in the codices and on 

 objects of minor art such as pottery. The word " snail " 

 is commonly used, but there are no means of telling 

 whether the shell represented belongs to the snail or to 

 some other mollusc. According to Tozzer and Allen the 

 shell is probably that of Fasciolaria giganica, which is the 

 largest known American shell and is found along the coast 

 of Yucatan." This writer gives a series of representations 

 of anthropomorphic figures, consisting of the human form 

 combined with a shell, taken both from Aztec and Maya 

 manuscripts. One of these, from the Peresianus Codex, 

 shows a personage called by Schellas, God N, the God 

 of the End of the Year. Another authorit)', Dr. Seler, 

 however, refers to him as the Old Bald-headed God, and 

 suggests that he governed the moon. " He is probably 

 related," says Spinden, " to God D, the principal Roman- 

 nosed God. Usuall)', but not; always, this God N wears a 

 large shell from which the upper part of his body seems 

 to emerge." It will be recalled that Teccir:tecatl, the Moon 

 God of the Mexicans, is represented in the Codex Vati- 

 canus No. 3,773, with a conch-shell on his brow ; in the 

 Codex Telleriano Remensis the shell appears at the back 



"'■ Forstemann, op. cil., pp. 428-429. 



°'' "A Study of Maya Art," Mem. Peabody Museum of Amer, 

 Arthixol, and Rthuol.^ vol. vi., 1913, p. %'i. 



