OF NEW ENGLAND. 569 
Jarge numbers of stone implements of various kinds have 
been carried away ; but as the place is in the neighbor- 
hood of a large town, and is frequently visited by those 
in search of such relics, they are now nearly exhausted. 
Cotuit Port is in the town of Barnstable, on the south 
side of Cape Cod, and on the northern shore of a narrow 
bay. It is quite near to the sea, but protected from it by 
a narrow spit of land, which forms a natural breakwater 
across the bay at its mouth. Within the distance of a 
few miles, a large number of shell-heaps are met with, 
and have been estimated to cover hundreds of acres, 
Sometimes having a thickness of between one and two 
feet, and at others of only a few inches. Oysters were 
formerly found in the bay in much larger quantities than 
at present, and doubtless formed one of the chief attrac- 
tions which drew the Indians to this place. Our exami- 
nations were confined chiefly to one of the larger deposits, 
about a mile to the eastward of the village, situated on a 
sloping surface with a pleasant southerly exposure. Ex- 
cavations by four persons during a whole day were made 
near the shore, and at various points inland, and brought 
to light the shells of the oyster, clam, scallop, and qua- 
hog, in large numbers, but quite unequally distributed ; 
the clam being plentiful in some places, the quahog in 
others, and the scallop in others, while the oyster 
abounded everywhere. 
Two species of Pyrula, viz. : P. carica and P. canalicu- 
lata were found, the first in considerable numbers. 
Neither of these species was found in any of the other 
heaps. Dr. Gould states that they are not known to exist 
north of Cape Cod. The largest specimen of the P. 
carica was about seven inches in length, a portion of the 
spire having been broken off, and this, according to Dr. 
AMERICAN NAT., VOL. I. 72 
