os FA Specimens, and therefore less clumsy and heavy, even W 
 1886.] The Stone Ax in Vermont. ; 335 
With very few exceptions the grooved axes found in Vermont 
are larger than those we have called notched axes. They are not at 
all abundant in any part of the State, and in the northern counties 
they are very rare. It is quite remarkable that in some localities 
where celts and other implements are especially common, grooved 
axes have been very seldom found, if at all. As compared with 
the Southern or Western grooved axes, our Vermont specimens 
present differences which are sufficiently noticeable when one 
looks over series of each, but which can not readily be made 
apparent in words. Our axes are, in size, intermediate, none of 
them being so small as the little “ toy ” axes found in other local- 
ities, nor are any so large as many that have been found. Neither 
do we find axes grooved only on three sides, but in all our speci- 
mens the groove extends entirely around the ax. In the collec- 
_ tion of the University of Vermont there is one specimen, which 
is doubtfully of Vermont origin, in which the groove ig found only 
on three sides, but in all the rest the groove is completed around 
the specimen. This is somewhat remarkable, because, according 
to Dr. Abbott (Primitive Industry, p. 8): “ Possibly two-thirds 
of the stone axes found in New Jersey have the groove extend- 
ing along the sides and across one margin ;” and the same author 
speaks of “ one-half probably of the axes found in Connecticut 
and northward having the groove entirely encircling the stone,” 
and by inference the other half were not so. Our axes usually — 
have the groove a little above the middle and parallel with the 
edge. It is never very near the blunt end, as in some of the 
Western Specimens, nor is it ever bordered by a raised lip. Our 
average specimens are from five to seven inches long and about | 
two-thirds as wide, and weigh two or three pounds, but occa- 
Sionally they are larger, as is the specimen shown in Fig. 5, which | 
18 one of the largest axes I have seen from this region. Some of 
Our grooved axes were evidently made from cobble stones, and in 
Some of these the upper end is left very much in its original con- 
dition with its water-worn surface unwrought. The same form 
Seems to have been copied in specimens the entire surface of which A 
1S Wrought, for although these may show everywhere tool-marks, | 
the form of the head is precisely that of those in which it is the 
natural water-worn pebble. In general form the Vermont axes 
are Noticeably wider, shorter and thinner than the typical West: 
a 
P 
