28 Loomis and Young — Shell Heaps of Maine. 



heaps, but on Flagg Island the species occurred in such 

 abundance as to represent a chief article of diet. The form is 

 very large and heavily built, equaling in size the largest 

 known minks from Alaska. During the week we collected 

 on Flagg Island. 53 finds of this mink were made, which was 

 a fifth of all the animal remains found. The males and females 

 have the usual differences in size, the female being about 20 

 per cent smaller than the male. The locality about this camp 

 must have been fairly overrun with these minks, and the 

 campers have made a systematic business of trapping them. 

 The whole heap was very different from most of the others in 

 the character of the remains found, so much so that it seems as 

 if fishing were here a subordinate industry to trapping and 

 hunting. 



Two seals inhabited the Maine coast in earlier times, the 

 Greenland seal (Phoca groelandica Erxleben) and the smaller 

 harbor seal (Phoca vitulina Linneus). Of these the former 

 occurred very sparingly, the Maine coast probably represent- 

 ing the lowest part of its range. The harbor seal, though still 

 abundant along the coast, and having been in known times an 

 important item in the fisheries of the Indians, still seems in 

 shell heap times to have been much less used, probably because 

 it would have been rather difficult of capture with the prim- 

 itive weapons of the period. 



Parts of & whale (probably BalaenaglacialisBonnatirre) were 

 found in the Sawyer's Island heap, and it must have represented 

 a fortunate accident, when this great mass, of tons of meat, 

 was stranded for the benefit of these Indians. Only a dozen 

 chunks of the whale's bones were found in our excavation, 

 which leads us to think that those present were brought to 

 camp from some distance, where the whale w T as stranded, while 

 other camps might well have also shared the find. All the 

 bones are split, though there was no marrow to be obtained 

 from them, but their large size made them peculiarly useful 

 for making; tools, and practically every piece is marked by the 

 tools used in cutting and breaking up the whole bones. Two 

 implements were found made of whalebone. The peculiar 

 texture of whale's bones makes them adaptable to certain uses, 

 and the stranding of a whale would have been of a rare enough 

 occurrence to make it an occasion for utilizing- all parts. 



The beaver (Castor canadensis Kuhl) is a staple form found 

 in all heaps, never in great abundance, but with great regular- 

 ity. The remains occur either as jaws and limb bones or as 

 isolated teeth, especially incisors. About half the individuals 

 are young, and these seem to have been used only as a food 

 supply. In the case of the adult individuals, they served the 

 double purpose of a food, and material for making tools. The 



