Soe PROCEEDINGS OF THE NATIONAL MUSEUM. VOL. XXXIV. 
which make the whole area, seen from the top, look a little like a small 
crustacean. The knobs in this specimen are very small. I consider 
it quite possible that here we may have a case where, under the stress 
of older forms of the needlecases, a partial reversion to the original 
type has taken place. 
The strong tendency of the Eskimo to utilize animal motives has 
found expression in another manner in the specimen represented in 
Plate XXVI, fig. 4. Here the small lateral knobs have been consider- 
ably enlarged and have been given the form of seals’ heads (see also p. 
333). I believe that here also there can be no doubt in regard to the 
question whether the seal’s head or the knebs are older. If the knob 
had to be considered as a degenerate form of the seal’s head, it would 
hardly be intelhgible why only one or two specimens 
out of a great number should retain the heads in this 
place, while in practically all other cases the reduction 
to a simple knob, sometimes so small that it can 
hardly be felt, should have occurred. It seems quite 
evident that in this case the imagination of the artist 
was stimulated by the traditional knob, and that it 
has been developed, owing to a desire to further deco- 
rate the utensil, into seals’ heads. The modification 
of the central concave face of this specimen is quite 
in accord with other modifications of the same surface, 
which have been described before. On the reverse of 
this needlecase the pairs of oblique spurs attached to 
the converging lines are directed toward the upper 
part of the needlecase. 
On Plates X XVII and XXVIII a number of speci- 
mens have been collected, in which another part of the 
Fic.8.—Neepie- yeedlecase has been modified through the general ten- 
CASE (ROYAL 5 : 5 : 0 
ErnNog. Mus. dency of the Eskimo artists to introduce animal designs. 
Bern, No. [nstead of the lower end, the flange has been thus de- 
IV A 3987). ; 
veloped. The procedure appears perhaps clearest in 
the specimen shown in Plate X XVII, fig. 3, where on one side the 
flange shows a number of perforations and modifications, by means 
of which it has been developed into a quadruped, while on the other 
side a walrus head has been developed by making a long slit along 
the body of the tube and by inserting an eye, the lines indicating 
nostrils and mouth, near the upper border. Thus the outer sides of 
the flanges form the tusks of the walrus head, while the top forms 
the head itself. The specimen here referred to shows clearly its close 
relation to the original type of needlecase. The decoration of the 
lower part, and the coneave face, may still be observed. The charac- 
teristic decorations of the concave face are also indicated. In figs. 1, 5, 
and 6 of the same plate we find the same type of needlecase with a 
