. Biologia Centrali-Americana, or, Contributions to the knowledge of the fauna and flora of Mexico and Central America . consists, in most instances, of a centerpiece supportedon both sides by the comb-like sign for 20; but in some cases there is but a singlesupport—a circumstance that justifies the opinion that the duplicate form is made useof merely to give symmetry to the glyph. The centerpiece is usually the cauac signfor 10 days; but in this connection it does not appear to have any value, furtherthan to emphasize the fact that the computation is by days. The face symbol here has the subf
. Biologia Centrali-Americana, or, Contributions to the knowledge of the fauna and flora of Mexico and Central America . consists, in most instances, of a centerpiece supportedon both sides by the comb-like sign for 20; but in some cases there is but a singlesupport—a circumstance that justifies the opinion that the duplicate form is made useof merely to give symmetry to the glyph. The centerpiece is usually the cauac signfor 10 days; but in this connection it does not appear to have any value, furtherthan to emphasize the fact that the computation is by days. The face symbol here has the subfix (conventionalized into three mere balls),while the superfix is absent. As many of the heads have the superfix also, it is amatter of doubt whether their value is variable, according to its presence or not. The sign of the day Ahau in this head is inclosed in either a dotted wing orthe fringed dragon-jaw—both characters for 20—thereby explicitly declaring the glyphto be the equivalent of twenty ahaus. biol. , Archseol. 11 82 THE AECHAIC MAYA INSCEIPTIOSS. ELEMENTS OF THE 52-YEAR SIGN,. In this symbol there is a departure from the reckoning by a 5-day period. Inits place we have a 20-day period, represented by the two 10-day signs. The subfixhere is 73. What the nice distinction is between the sign representing that numberand that representing 72 it is impossible to tell, except when both are expressed bythe bouquet-like characters, owing to the worn state of the inscription everywhere thatthe other 73 sign occurs. The product of 20 multiplied by 73—1460—is multipliedby the 13 denoted by the character in the superfix, making 18,980, the number of daysin 52 years, or a calendar round. I know of no face sign for this period. ELEMENTS OF THE CYCLE SIGNS.
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