58 General Notes. [January, 
Polynesia to Stanford’s Compendium of Geography and Travel, 
and Prof. Flower, objected to several of the new appellations 
given by Mr. Whitmee. The map illustrating this paper will be 
found in the February number of the Yournad. 
The seventh part of Anales del Museo Nacional de Mexico is 
entirely devoted to Archeology, and contains the following 
G. Mendoza; La Piedra del Sol: segundio estudio, by Sr. D. 
Alfredo Chavero; El Congreso Internacional de Americanistas 
en Europa y el cobre entre los Aztecas, by Sr. D. Jesus Sanchez; 
Anales de Cuauhtitlan. 
Vol. 1, Part 1, of the Memoirs of the Science Department, Univer- 
sity of Tokio, Japan, is devoted to the Shell Mounds of Omori. The 
author, Prof. Edward S. Morse, having for years studied shell 
heaps in Maine and Massachusetts in company with Prof. Jeffries 
Wyman and Prof. F. W. Putnam, was well qualified for the exami- 
nation of these remains, and has made good use of his opportu- 
nities. 
These mounds possess those common characteristics which dis- 
tinguish shell deposits throughout the world. They have, like- 
wise, the following special marks: 1. The presence of enormous 
quantities of pottery, of many different shapes, and of an almost 
infinite variety of ornamentation. 2. By the great scarcity of 
stone implements, and the absence of arrow-heads, spear-points 
and other pointed implements of stone. Not an arrow-head, 
flake or chip has been found by the various parties that have been 
there in the interests of the university. 3. Thé men of the Omori 
period were also cannibals. 4. Peculiar clay tablets or amulets. 
The pottery is minutely described and illustrated by fifteen dou- 
ble lithographic plates. In form and marking it resembles in a 
striking manner the fragments in the Latimer collection, figured 
in the Smithsonian Report for 1876. The tablets are of the 
finest clay, light colored; two of them have designs in relief, with 
depressed areas ; on the others the figures are cut on a flat sur- 
face. The author ventures a comparison with American tablets, 
but is not able to reach any desinite conclusion. 
The opinion of cannibalism is founded on the same evidence as 
is offered by Prof. Wyman, but as savages break human bones for 
other reasons than a design to eat the flesh, the theory must take 
its chances with the rest. With much diffidence we would call 
Prof. Morse’s attention to Le Moyne’s plate 1 5, descriptive of the 
Indians occupying, in 1564, the very spot where Prof. Wyman 
found his evidences of cannibalism. ‘ When a battle was fought 
the victors seized upon the enemy and mutilated their bodies in 
the most brutal manner. With cane knives the arms and legs 
were cut around and then severed from the body by blows upon 
the bones from wooden cleavers. The head was also cut around _ 
