500 
ANTHROPOLOGY: G. G. M'CURDY 
colors employed, as well as the method of their appHcation. After the 
armadillo ware, perhaps the largest group is the one to which Holmes 
gave the name lost color ware, the designs being produced by the removal 
of color rather than by its direct appHcation. In addition to the 
process of negative painting employed, this group is also characterized 
by distinctive forms as well as the nature of the paste and the colors, also 
the degree of finish (or absence of it) to which the modeling was carried. 
In the lost color ware a majority of the designs consists of rhomboidal 
figures, triangles, associated bands composed of groups of straight 
lines, and designs in the shape of fronds and waving arms. They are 
found alone as well as in combination. The fronds, waving arms, tri- 
angles, and straight bars, as well as the lozenge- shaped designs are often 
associated with series of dots. What is the meaning of all this? At 
first glance they seem far removed from the motives derived from animal 
forms so characteristic of other groups of Chiriquian pottery. Could 
they be plant derivatives? Are they perhaps simply the products of 
uncontrolled fancy? 
A key to the mystery recently came to light in the shape of a more 
realistic rendering of the motive than had been known hitherto. It 
consisted of a lozenge-shaped body to which was attached eight waving 
arms. It filled a circular panel on the two sides of a round-bodied lost 
color vase collected by Mr. George G. Heye while on a trip to Chiriqui 
in 1913. This vase to which Professor Marshall H. Saville had called 
my attention was recently published by me.^ The design represents an 
octopus (fig. 1). At that time, I pointed out its kinship to many designs 
previously published by Holmes and myself, but the significance of which 
had not been understood. 
A further study tends not only to confirm what was said in my last 
note but also to emphasize the importance of this newly discovered 
motive as a special feature of lost-color symbolism in ancient Chi- 
riquian art, and as another example of how a whole group of related 
motives in primitive art may be traced to a single zoomorphic prototype. 
Recently in going over some duplicate Chiriquian pottery with a 
view to making an exchange, I came across several new variations of 
the octopus motive. In one shapely vase the eight octopus append- 
ages are evenly distributed over the upper zone, being attached to a 
line just below the neck of the vessel (fig. 2). The neck and aperture 
thus take the place of the octopus body and mouth. The artist's 
point of view can perhaps be better appreciated by looking down on 
the vase from above rather than by a side view. 
A similar idea but expressed in a different way is shown in figure 
