OF ST. JOHNS RIVER, EAST FLORIDA. 458 
` coast, and, as might be expected, carried marine shells into 
the interior, some of which were converted into useful arti- 
eles, especially Strombus gigas, Pyrula carica, and P. per- 
: versa, the last acquiring a length of from twelve to fourteen 
inches. 

s 
Fig. 4, Pl. 10 (half natural size), one of the most common 
_ instruments, is made of a triangular piece cut from P. carica, 
80 as to comprise a portion of the rostrum, serving as a handle, 
and a portion of the swollen part of the body, which is the 
useful part of the tool. The sides and apex are smoothed and 
rounded, while the base is regularly curved and ground to an 
edge like that of a gouge, but with the bevel on the inside. 
| A specimen presented to me by Dr. H. P. Bowditch, and 
which he obtained at Old Enterprise, shows quite clearly that 
: it was detached from the shell by first cutting a groove, and 
. then breaking off the fragment. Length from 80 to 90 m. m., 
-breadth from 60 to 70 m. m. 
Fig. 5, Pl. 10 (half natural size), represents a species of 
Pyrula, with thick and heavy walls; the lip and nearly the 
whole of the rostrum are ground off, and a somewhat irregu- 
lar oval hole with rounded edges is made between the first 
_ ind second row of tubercles, and quite near to the mouth. 
Though such an instrument would give resonance to the voice, 
the position of the hole is not such as to adapt it most favora- 
bly to be used as ahorn. It may, nevertheless, be the instru- 
ment which Bartram states was still in use when he visited 
the St. Johns, and with which, he says, “on one and the same 
day, early in the morning, the whole town is summoned by 
Sound of a conch-shell, from the mouth of the overseer, 
to meet in the public square,” for the purpose of entering 
"pon the work of cultivating the soil.* : 
Fig. 6, Pl. 10 (natural size), is a portion of the rostrum of 
; yrtla, 60 m. m. in length, the two ends of which have been 
obliquely ground. re < 
*Travels in Florida. Philadelphia, 1791, p- 512- 

