434 
dle position between them.’’ He has based his deter- 
‘mination of the species upon the sterile fronds only; 
but in the figure of Lesquereux we have the fertile 
frond, or a portion of it, of the same species. This 
fragment was found at ’ Erie, Col. Should not the 
Caulinites fecundus be considered Onoclea sensibilis ? 
On plate lxiii. of the same volume we have a fossil 
called Zamiostrobus mirabilis, and on p. 70 is the 
description. Mr. Lesquereux has referred the fossil 
to the Gymnospermae, and considers it probably to 
be the cone of one of the Zamieae. Compare. now, 
the copy of his figure (fig. 2) with that of the longi- 
tudinal section of the fruit of Nelumbium luteum (fig. 
3) , and the resemblance is striking, — so striking is it, 
Fie. 3. — Longitudinal section of Nelumbium luteum. 
in fact, that I do not hesitate to say that both belong 
to the same genus. Mr. Lesquereux’s specimen was 
found on the surface at Golden, Col. 
Turning to p. 252 of the same volume, we find two 
species of Nelumbium described from the leaves. One 
was found at Golden, and the other at Sand Creek, 
Col. The fact of finding leaves of a Nelumbium in 
the same locality as the “fossil here figured, strongly 
comfirms the idea that the Zamiostrobus is only the 
capsular fruit of a Nelumbium, probably that de- 
scribed as N. Lakesii. It differs only slightly from 
the other species, N. tenuifolium; and the two should 
probably be united. Jos. F. JAMES. 
Spool-shaped ornaments from mounds. 
As the spool-shaped copper ornaments occasionally 
found in mounds— one of which is na Re Dr. 
Rau (Arch. coll. U.S. nat. mus., p. 61, fig. 35), and 
others by Professor Putnam (Rep. Peabody yt Tie - XV. 
110, figs. 18 and 19) —have attracted the attention of 
archeologists, it may not be amiss to notice some ad- 
ditional specimens of the same kind, recently obtained 
by the assistants of the bureau of ethnology. 
Three of these were obtained by Dr. Palmer, of Mr. 
J. D. Miller, Marshall county, Ala., who discovered 
them in an ancient grave in that county. As yet no 
description of the grave, nor any further statement as 
to the conditions under which they were found, has 
been obtained. 
These copper spools, as also the others to be men- 
SCIENCE. 
[Von IIL, No. 62. 
tioned, are of the form represented in the figures al- 
luded to, consisting of two concavo-convex disks 
joined together by a hollow cylindrical axis. One of 
the specimens is quite perfect. The disks are one 
and a half inches in diameter, formed of copper plate 
that is very smooth and even throughout. The hol- 
low cylindrical axis is about seven-tenths of an inch 
long, and a little less than two-tenths of an inch in 
diameter, and has the ends:slightly expanded outside 
of the disks, so as to hold the latter in position. The 
other specimens found by Mr. Miller are of larger 
size; being about two inches in diameter, and closely 
resembling that figured by Professor Putnam. The 
plate is not more than half the thickness of that 
of which the preceding specimen was made, being 
almost as thin as writing-paper; but the cylindrical 
axis is of the same form and dimensions. 
The method of connecting and fixing the disks in 
these, as will be seen from the description, is slightly 
different from that described by Professor Putnam. 
The cylindrical axis is simply passed tightly through 
the holes made in the centre of the disks, and the ends 
expanded, as though done witha punch, so as to clasp 
the outer faces. 
Four other specimens, very similar to that figured 
by Professor Putnam, were discovered by Mr. Middle- 
ton in a mound in Jackson county, Ill. The mound 
in which these were found is one of a group situated 
in the Mississippi bottom, a short distance from Grand 
Tower: it is about ninety feet in diameter, and six feet 
high. In excavating it, human bones were found at 
all depths, from six inches to six feet below the sur- 
face. Below this no human bones were observed ; 
but at the depth of nine feet, that is, three feet be- 
low the original surface of the ground, some animal 
bones were discovered. 
The copper specimens were found at the depth of 
three feet, lying by the side of a skeleton. The four 
are of the same form and size, being about one inch 
and a half in diameter: the axis is short, bringing the 
disks rather closer together than usual, the attach- 
ments being as described by Professor Putnam. All 
the specimens mentioned, except the first, are much 
corroded and very brittle. The first is also somewhat 
corroded, but not to the same extent as the others, and 
is probably the best formed and most perfect specimen 
of the kind so far discovered. Cyrus THOMAS. 
[These so-called ‘spool-shaped ornaments’ have 
been shown by Mr. Putnam to be enormous ear-studs, 
his examinations of the altar-mounds in Anderson 
township, O., having brought to light over thirty 
made of copper, together with figurines in which 
similar objects were inserted in the ears. See Science, 
i. 348, 549. ] 
Unio forms a byssus. 
If your correspondent at Holston River, Va., will 
consult my ‘ Observations on the genus Unio,’ he will 
find most of his queries answered. ‘The subject is 
treated in vols. i., iii., vi., x., xi. The byssus is not 
attached to the shell, but to the foot of the included 
soft parts. Isaac LEA. 
Philadelphia, March 24, 1884. 
Tllusive memory. 
James Sully, in his ‘ Illusions,’ suggests that a good 
way of testing for recollections of ancestral experience 
would be to find out whether children of seafaring 
men, who have been brought up far from the coast, 
have the feeling, when they first see the sea, of hav- a 
ing seen it before. 
Paul Radestock seems to consider that the question 
is settled by the fact, that while he was writing his 
