. Transactions of the Anthropological Society of Washington . of the South, and con-sequently that it was probably also known in the North. A greatmajority of the relics associated with it in ancient mounds andburial places are undoubtedly aboriginal. In the case of the shellgorgets, the tablets themselves belong to an American type, andare highly characteristic of the ancient art of the Mississippi Val-ley. A majority of the designs engraved upon them are also char-acteristic of the same district. The workmanship is purely aborigi-nal. I have not seen a single example of engraving upon shell
. Transactions of the Anthropological Society of Washington . of the South, and con-sequently that it was probably also known in the North. A greatmajority of the relics associated with it in ancient mounds andburial places are undoubtedly aboriginal. In the case of the shellgorgets, the tablets themselves belong to an American type, andare highly characteristic of the ancient art of the Mississippi Val-ley. A majority of the designs engraved upon them are also char-acteristic of the same district. The workmanship is purely aborigi-nal. I have not seen a single example of engraving upon shell thatsuggested a foreign hand, or a design, with the exception of thisone, that could claim a European derivation. ANTHROPOLOGICAL SOCIETY. 165 A Study of the various designs associated with the cross in thesegorgets will be very instructive and may enable us to form someidea of its place and importance as a symbol. In two cases it hasbeen inscribed upon the backs of artistically engraved spiders, asshown in Fig. 8. This specimen was obtained from a mound in. Fig. 8. Shell gorget with engraving of a spider and cross. St. Clair county, Illinois. It has been suggested that the cross maysimply be a representation of the pretty well defined cross foundupon the backs of some species of the genus Atta, but there appearsto be good reason for believing otherwise. The cross here shownhas a very highly conventionalized character, quite out of keepingwith the realistic drawing of the insect, and, what is still more de-
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