ANIMAL FIGURES IN THE MAYA CODICES 363 



Pleiades and various other suggestions have been made that 

 the dog represents some constellation. The more common 

 form of spotted dog is shown as a single tonalamatl figure in 

 Tro-Cortesianus 25d and 27d (PL 36, fig. 14) and an unspotted 

 variety in Dresden 7a (PI. 37, fig. 10). The dog is frequently- 

 shown as copulating with another animal or with a female 

 figure. In Dresden 13c (PL 37, fig. 7) the second figure is 

 a vulture, in Dresden 21b (PL 37, fig. 5) it i& a woman and also 

 in Tro-Cortesianus 91c (PL 36, fig. 12). 



The same animal appears also in a number of 

 scenes not included in the preceding. In Tro-Cortesianus 

 88c (PL 36, fig. 1) a dog is seated on a crab and seems to be 

 connected with the idea of the north as this sign is noted 

 above the figure; in Tro-Cortesianus 66b (PL 36, fig. 3) a 

 -dog and another animal (PL 32, fig. 3) are seated back to 

 l^ack under a shelter; in Tro-Cortesianus 30b a dog is seated 

 •on the right foot of the woman from whose breasts water is 

 streaming; in Dresden 29a (PL 37, fig. 12) god B is shown 

 •seated on a dog; and, finally, in Dresden 30a (PL 37, fig. 9) 

 god B holds the bound dog by the tail over an altar. 



The dog appears from numerous references to be used in 

 connection with a prayer for rain. Comargo (1843) in his 

 history of Tlaxcallan states that when rain failed, a proces- 

 sion was held in which a number of hairless dogs were carried 

 on decorated litters to a place devoted to their use. There 

 they were sacrificed to the god of water and the bodies were 

 eaten. 



The glyphs associated with the dog are interesting as we 

 have, as in the case with the deer, one showing a realistic 

 drawing of a dog's head in Tro-Cortesianus 91 d (PL 37, fig. 13) 

 and several others far more difficult of interpretation. PL 

 37, fig. 11, seems to stand for the dog as it is found in several 

 places where the dog appears below, Dresden 21b, 40b. It 

 is thought by some to represent the ribs of a dog which appear 

 in somewhat similar fashion in PL 37, fig. 8. Some of the 



