612 The American Naturalist. [July, 
Plate XXVII, fig. 2, an almost exact counterpart of this shell 
disc is given, with the exception that the perforation is larger 
and irregular. It is described as one of the stages in the manu- 
facture of shell fish-hooks by the Indians of California; but 
as fish-hooks of any material are not found in the mounds of 
the St. John’s this dise may be considered a discoidal bead. 
A second excavation on the east side of the mound showed, 
as before, pottery in the upper layer and none in those below. 
Six fragments of bone were met with, of which two were 
human. 
In this shell heap the hypothesis of burials, even of discon- 
nected bones, would seem untenable, as absolutely nothing 
found in association with them pointed to interments. A por- 
tion of the remains of this probably cannibalistic feast can be 
seen at the Wagner Free Institute, Philadelphia. 
The finding of a bone belonging to the dog is entirely novel 
in the shell heaps of the St. John’s. Professor Wyman’s 
searches yielded no canine remains’ nor has the writer hitherto 
upon any other occasion found, to the best of his knowledge, 
any portion of the skeleton of the dog in the river mounds. 
Wyman was aware of no evidence to show the presence of 
domestic dogs on the river in early times? and cites Le 
Moyne's list of animals supposed to have been seen by the 
French* (1565), from which the dog is omitted. On the other 
hand, Cabega de Vaca, Treasurer of the expedition of Pam- 
philo de Narvaez (1527), found dogs’ among the natives dur- 
ing his wanderings along the coast of northwestern Florida, 
and in other portions of his journey. He makes no comment 
as to their origin, as he doubtless would have done had they 
been pointed out as curiosities, and it is hardly reasonable to 
suppose that, at so early a period, their derivation can have 
been from a European source. The bones of dogs are 
reported from a shell heap at Tampa. The writer learns how- 
: * Fresh Water Shell Mounds of the St. John's River, Florida," page 80. 
Um 
ıse The Nasrative of Alvar Nunez Cabeca de Vaca,” translated by Buckingham 
Smith, Washington, 1851, page 41, et al. 
êc Tampa Sunland and Tribune, » Nov. 18, 1876. 
à um "Sem 
PEE NUS 
