256 OENAMENTS OF SHELL. 



be seen by the figures on Plate XIII, other shells were, however, used for 

 special purposes, particularly several univalves, from some of which the 

 lips, and from others the central spiral portion forming the columella, were 

 cut; in both cases the object made being a pendant. Other species of 

 small univalve shells, like the Olivetta, Fig. 66, Plate XIII, were used, 

 nearly in their natural state, as beads, the apex being ground off for the 

 purpose of stringing. Small rings were also made by cutting through the 

 shell, around the natural hole, of the limpet shown on Plate XIII, Fig. 67. 

 Such rings are thus far known to me only from Santa Cruz Island, where 

 they were collected by Mr. Bowers (P. M. 13776), although the shell figured 

 on the plate was found in a grave at Dos Pueblos. Of the shell beads gen- 

 erally, in the form of short and of long cylinders, perforated lengthwise, 

 it is only necessary, here, to state that they were principally made from the 

 thick shells of Tivola. Some are, however, nearly spherical. Beads were 

 also made in immense numbers by cutting the small circular pieces from 

 the body of the shells of the little Olivella bijjlicata (Plate XIII, Figs. 28, 

 29), a species to which Mr. Stearns has particularly called attention as 

 having an important bearing upon the question of theToute of trade or of 

 migration of Indian tribes from the Pacific coast.* 



Referring to the notes on the shell beads by Dr. Haldeman on a subse- 

 quent page, I shall simply here introduce a figure of an Indian woman of 

 Central California, for the purpose of calling attention to the profuse use of 

 shell money as ornaments by the California Indians even of the present 

 time, and to state that the shell disks strung and hung about the neck of 

 "Captain Tom's wife " are of the same kind and made of the same species of 

 mollusk shells as those found in such abundance in the graves on the coast 

 and islands. This figure, 126, is kindly loaned by Prof. J. W. Powell, from 

 the volume on the " Tribes of California" by Stephen Powers.f 



*Mr. R. E. C. Stearns, of San Francisco, has for several years paid particular attention to the 

 interesting subject of "Aboriginal Shell Money," and has published several important papers contain- 

 ing a great amount of valuable information, particularly relating to America. In his paper above 

 referred to, American Naturalist, June, 1877, p. 344, he has covered the subject of California shell 

 money in a brief and admirable manner, and the paper should not be overlooked by all interested in the 

 subject. See, also, an important and suggestive note by him on p. 473 of the same journal. 



Dr. L. G. Yates, also in the same volume, p. 30, gives a short notice of shell ornaments from 

 California. 



t Contributions to North American Ethnology, Vol. Ill, Department of the Interior, U. S. Geogr. 

 and Geol. Survey of the Rocky Mt. Region, J. W. Powell in charge, Washington, 1877. 



