Io8 Bulletin American Museum of Natural History. [Vol. XVIII, 



in the illustration; these represent black water-beetles, called 

 in Arapaho "buffalo-bulls" (the buffalo is at times also 

 represented by a black rectangle). 



A parfleche design very similar to the last is shown in Fig. 

 4 of Plate xviii. The four long flat triangles are again blue, 

 and the figures between them are half yellow and half red. 

 The blue triangles also again enclose a white area with rounded 

 top, within which is a figure with three points. In spite of 

 this similarity to the design last described, the symbolism 

 differs considerably. In the present specimen the flat blue 

 triangles are mountains ; the red three-toothed figures are red 

 hills, the white spaces between their projections being basins 

 or valleys; a yellow stripe at the base of this hill-and- valley 

 figure represents a flat or plain; the red-and-yellow figures, 

 which taper toward the middle, are tents; the trapezoidal 

 white areas enclosed at their bases are life-symbols ; and the 

 black marks bisecting the life-symbols are tent-pegs, this in- 

 terpretation being probably suggested by their shape and by 

 their position at the foot of the tents; the straight lines or 

 narrow stripes, whether red, blue, or unpainted, are paths. 

 On account of its four-sided shape, the whole design repre- 

 sents the earth. 



A parfleche which, both in the color and the shapes of its 

 design, is unusual, though a pattern somewhat resembling the 

 more common one is recognizable in it, is shown in- Fig. 5 

 of Plate XVIII. The six rectangles are yellow; they are ex- 

 teriorly bordered by red, as are the four triangles interiorly. 

 The rest of the designs consists of black lines. The six 

 rectangles are bear-feet (the claws, sometimes the most promi- 

 nent feature, being omitted). The triangles are flint arrow- 

 points. The black lines are ropes. The black lines enclosing 

 the entire design are (because forming a rectangle) the earth. 

 At each corner are two short red stripes, forming an angle. 

 These are life-symbols. Evidently each stripe is regarded as 

 an elongated quadrilateral, the square or trapezoid being the 

 regular figure for the life-symbol. 



On the parfleche shown in Fig. i, Plate xix, the triangles 

 represent tents. Strictly, the equilateral triangles and the 



